Secure televsion distribution over heterogeneous networks

ABSTRACT

A method and system of providing a second broadcast signal from a first broadcast signal is described. The method includes receiving a broadcast signal containing media content and data content and selecting, from the data content, a first portion containing control and configuration and a second portion containing replacement content. The method further includes converting the first portion and the second portion into a multicast internet protocol stream and processing the replacement content as a second broadcast signal using the control and configuration information. The system includes a transceiver that receives a broadcast signal, selects a first portion and a second portion of the data content, and converts the first portion of the data content and the second portion of the data content into a multicast internet protocol stream. The system further includes a gateway device that processes the replacement content using the control and configuration information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e), of U.S.Provisional Patent Application 63/049652, filed on Jul. 9, 2020, whichis incorporated herein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to broadcast communications andmore specifically to securely distributing television broadcast signalsover heterogeneous networks.

BACKGROUND

Any background information described herein is intended to introduce thereader to various aspects of art, which may be related to the presentembodiments that are described below. This discussion is believed to behelpful in providing the reader with background information tofacilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the presentdisclosure.

The advent of advanced broadcast signal transmission standards, such asthe Advanced Television Systems committee (ATSC) 3.0 set of standards,and the corresponding secure transmission technologies makesmanipulation of the data streams difficult across state-widedistribution networks. Metadata and other information cannot be changedwithout being re-signed. This is problematic when the re-signingequipment is in an unattended site with less security than is availableat the main studio. Further, providing regionalized services requiresduplicating the entire broadcast data feed which is either impossible orvery costly from a bandwidth perspective. In addition, some transmittersare not connected to a physical network and receive the data for theirbroadcast from a sister transmitter. In these cases, a mechanism to sendcontrol information over a broadcast communications network is required.

Many television distribution networks rely on a variety of technologiesto move the data that will ultimately constitute the televisionbroadcast from the origination point, typically the main studio, to thetransmission antenna. These technologies include fiber and copperinternet protocol (IP)-based networks, microwave, and even othertelevision broadcasts. In some cases, a retransmission is necessarybecause the identifying metadata within the broadcast must change, forexample, when a new frequency and call letters are required. Eachdistribution technology has advantages and disadvantages over the otherand, frequently in practice, the technologies may be combined to provideredundancy. For example, a fiber network is highly efficient and fullduplex, so it offers the highest bandwidth and best control fordistribution since equipment at both ends can be managed with equalease. However, a fiber network can be physically compromised so anover-the-air microwave or broadcast can provide a lower bandwidth backupto continue supporting essential but perhaps degraded services in aone-way communication mode.

The ATSC 3.0 standard defined in document A1300:2020 is a secure,over-the-air (OTA) broadcast system based on IP transport. The metadatawithin this system are cryptographically signed and cannot be changedwithout re-signing, thereby rendering it effectively immutable. This isnot the case for the original North American digital broadcast system,so-called ATSC 1.0, defined in document ATSC A/53, that has no suchsecurity and is susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks. ATSC 1.0networks could leverage the lack of security by sending a single contentstream throughout the network and changing the metadata to rebrand thetransmission just prior to transmission. While this is technicallypossible with ATSC 3.0, changing the metadata requires re-signing which,in turn, requires private keys used to sign the entire broadcast toreside at or near the, usually unattended, transmission site which maycompromise security.

The Federal Communication Commission (FCC) allows single-sourcednetworks to announce the primary call letters and then occasionallyannounce a list of the various retransmission call letters andfrequencies. For some networks, this is sufficient, but it can causeconfusion and does not easily support regionalization.

Note that the ability to change only the metadata is based on thereality that the same or similar content is being distributed across thenetwork. The prime example is in public broadcasting state networks suchas those deployed by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) North Carolina(formerly UNC-TV) and Nebraska Educational TV (NET). The content issourced in a single location and distributed across the state using avariety of technologies as described above. There may be situations thatwarrant different content for different regions, but this is theexception rather than the rule.

Certainly, a way to alleviate the immutable metadata problem is togenerate separate streams with the correct metadata for eachtransmission at a central location. For star networks or high bandwidthnetworks, this is feasible though the equipment costs could beprohibitive. Cloud-based solutions are also possible but require arelatively high-speed and high-availability Internet connection at eachsite. For low bandwidth, ring or daisy chained (multiple hop) networks,this is highly inefficient and may not even be feasible. Most of thenetworks deployed to date are not star networks and even those that are,have additional “hops”, such as radio frequency (RF) translators, thatare not conducive to sending multiple versions of a broadcast stream.Even in the best-case bandwidth scenario, there are still situationswhere a way to send the same data to multiple sites with limitedoverhead is beneficial. As a result, there is a need to have a system,method and apparatus that can seamlessly, efficiently, and securelyprovide customized television content to a plurality of broadcast signaltransmission facilities in a plurality of content distribution networkconfigurations.

SUMMARY

According to one implementation, a method of providing a secondbroadcast signal from a first broadcast signal is described. The methodincludes receiving a first broadcast signal containing media content anddata content and selecting a first portion of the data content and asecond portion of the data content from the received first broadcastsignal, the first portion containing control and configurationinformation and the second portion containing replacement content. Themethod further includes converting the first portion of the data contentand the second portion of the data content into a multicast internetprotocol stream. The method also includes processing the replacementcontent as a second broadcast signal using the control and configurationinformation contained in the first portion.

According to another implementation, a system is described. The systemincludes a transceiver that receives a first broadcast signal containingmedia content and data content. The transceiver further selects a firstportion of the data content and a second portion of the data content,wherein the first portion contains control and configurationinformation, and the second portion contains replacement content. Thetransceiver additionally converts the first portion of the data contentand the second portion of the data content into a multicast internetprotocol stream. The system further includes a gateway device coupled tothe transceiver. The gateway device processes the replacement content asa second broadcast signal using the control and configurationinformation contained in the first portion.

According to another implementation, a method of providing localizedemergency alert information is described. The method includes receivinga first broadcast signal containing media content and data content andselecting a first portion of the data content and a second portion ofthe data content from the received first broadcast signal, the firstportion containing control and configuration information and the secondportion containing localized emergency alert information for a specificgeographic region. The method further includes converting the firstportion of the data content and the second portion of the data contentinto a multicast internet protocol stream. The method also includesprocessing the localized emergency alert information as a secondbroadcast signal using the control and configuration informationcontained in the first portion.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the presentdisclosure will become more apparent in light of the following detaileddescription when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings towhich the principles of the present disclosure are applicable:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary broadcast content distributionsystem according to aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary transceiver used in abroadcast content distribution system according to aspects of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary signal diagram associated with signal processingperformed as part of a broadcast signal content distribution systemaccording to aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an exemplary gateway used in a broadcastcontent distribution system according to aspects of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 5 is another exemplary signal diagram associated with the signalprocessing performed as part of a broadcast signal content distributionsystem according to aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of another exemplary, two-way broadcastcontent distribution system according to aspects of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a further exemplary broadcast contentdistribution system according to aspects of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of yet another exemplary broadcast contentdistribution system according to aspects of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of an exemplary process for providing alternativebroadcast content in a heterogeneous broadcast content distributionsystem according to aspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It should be understood that the elements shown in the figures may beimplemented in various forms of hardware, software, or combinations onone or more appropriately programmed general-purpose devices, which mayinclude a processor, memory, and input/output interfaces. Those skilledin the art will be able to devise various arrangements which, althoughnot explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of thedisclosure and are included within its scope.

All examples recited herein are intended to aid the reader inunderstanding the principles of the disclosure and the concepts and areto be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recitedexamples and conditions. Any flow charts, flow diagrams, statetransition diagrams, pseudocode, and the like represent variousprocesses which may be substantially represented in computer readablemedia and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not suchcomputer or processor is explicitly shown.

The functions of the various elements shown in the figures may beprovided through the use of dedicated hardware as well as hardwarecapable of executing software in association with appropriate software.When provided by a processor, the functions may be provided by a singlededicated processor, by a single shared processor, or by a plurality ofindividual processors, some of which may be shared. Moreover, explicituse of the term “processor”, “module” or “controller” should not beconstrued to refer exclusively to hardware capable of executingsoftware, and may implicitly include, without limitation, a System on aChip (SoC), digital signal processor (“DSP”) hardware, read only memory(“ROM”) for storing software, random access memory (“RAM”), andnonvolatile storage.

As used herein, the term “processor” broadly refers to and is notlimited to a single- or multi-core general purpose processor, a specialpurpose processor, a processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), adigital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one ormore microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, amicrocontroller, one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits(ASICs), one or more Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) circuits, anyother type of integrated circuit (IC), a system-on-a-chip (SOC), and/ora state machine. As used herein, the terms “transaction” and “electronictransaction” broadly refer to any transaction which may beelectronically validated by the recited system, method, and apparatus.

One or more of the aspects of the embodiments described above may beimplemented using application-specific hardware. Further, one or moreaspects of the embodiments may be implemented using one or moreprocessing elements, such as central processing units (CPUs) that mayinclude specific operating instructions embedded as firmware in theprocessing element(s) or may operate from software code that isdownloaded into the elements from one or more memory units coupled tothe processing element(s).

The present disclosure addresses issues related to the customizabledelivery of content and/or data to specific geographic areas within abroadcast system that includes a plurality of over the air broadcasttransmission facilities covering those geographic areas. The issuesarise in part due to increased concern over the security of the contentcontained within the broadcast signal. Many modern broadcast signaltransmission standards include specific security protocols that attemptto minimize the threat of unauthorized access to the broadcast signal asit passes either through a broadcast transmission facility or as it iscommunicated between broadcast transmission facilities. The increasedlevel of security limits the ability to customize a broadcast signal fora specific geographic area without providing a separate broadcast signalto each broadcast transmission facility. Such an approach is bothimpractical and costly.

The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to distribution ofcontent and between different transmission facilities in a heterogeneousbroadcast content distribution system. The document takes advantage ofthe use of the multiple signaling layers in the most modern broadcasttransmission standards. The embodiments describe providing disparatemedia and/or data content to different transmission facilities based onan IP multicast tunneled packet-based data transport protocol, such asthe data source transport protocol (DSTP) defined by ATSC A/324. Thedisparate media and/or data content may be routed to each transmissionfacility using secure tunneled content streams, such as tunneled DSTPstreams, and then combined into a new broadcast signal for transmissionor re-transmission using a gateway device, such as an edge gateway. Eachgateway device is controlled using data carried in a dedicated tunneledcontent stream (e.g., a tunneled DSTP stream) which also contains thesigned signaling data for that broadcast signal transmission. In someembodiments, a transceiver may be included for receiving the broadcastsignal and delivering the secure tunneled content streams for use by thegateway device. The transceiver is also controlled using data in adedicated tunneled content stream (e.g., a tunneled DSTP stream).

The embodiments of the present disclosure also describe severalconfigurations for a broadcast communication system including broadcastretransmission systems, full duplex broadcast communication systems andmulti-link communication systems. The present disclosure also describesone particular embodiment using aspects of the present embodiments thatenables emergency alert system (EAS) encoder decoder devices, or ENDECs,without physical Internet connections to communicate with EASconsolidation equipment at the broadcast or transmission facility.

Fundamentally, the strength of the approach described in the presentdisclosure is the capability to deliver content and signaling to onlythose transmitters that need it without duplication of data on thenetwork used by the broadcast content distribution system. In a largearea network with a plurality of transmission facilities, most of thecontent may be the same. Currently in many cases, signaling andidentification is not changed at all and transmission facility stationidentification is accomplished using an announcement of all possiblecall letters and channels on which the broadcast signal can be received.Emergency event information, such as weather alert notifications, arebroadcast to the entire geographic region instead of just to theimpacted geographic areas.

It is noted that it is possible to use other signaling layers fordelivering disparate content to the different transmission facilities.For instance, all of the disparate content and data for each of thebroadcast signals at the different transmission facilities may beincluded in a single physical layer transport stream, such as an ATSC3.0 station to transmitter link transport protocol (STLTP) stream.However, the disadvantage to this approach is that it limits thecapabilities and features provided by the broadcast transmissionprotocol in much the same way as what occurs currently. Further, using aseparate physical layer transport stream (e.g., an STLTP stream) foreach transmission facility having disparate media or data content wouldbe highly transmission signal bandwidth inefficient and likely may noteven be possible depending on the network capability and number oftransmission facilities. Providing multiple tunneled content streams,each with separate content and signaling, and allowing each transmissionfacility to be configured to only use the content and signaling itrequires to transmit the new broadcast signal is more efficient in termsof costs and transmission bandwidth.

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary broadcast contentdistribution system 100 according to aspects of the present disclosure.In broadcast content distribution system 100, content from one or morecontent sources is provided to studio content processing system 105.Studio content processing system 105 is coupled to broadcast gateway110. Broadcast gateway 110 is coupled to exciter 115. Exciter 115 iscoupled to transmitter 120. Transmitter 120 is coupled to thetransmitter antenna 125, which radiates the broadcast signal providedfrom transmitter 120 into the airwaves. Receiver antenna 150 receivedthe broadcast signal that was radiated by transmitter antenna 125.Receiver antenna 150 is coupled to transceiver 155. Transceiver 155 iscoupled to gateway 160. Gateway 160 is coupled to exciter 165. Exciter165 is coupled to transmitter 170. Transmitter 170 is coupled to thetransmitter antenna 175, which radiates the broadcast signal providedfrom transmitter 170 into the airwaves. Nominally, the studio contentprocessing system 105, broadcast gateway 110, exciter 115, transmitter120, and antenna 125 are collocated (e.g., in the same building orfacility) and represent a broadcast signal transmission mechanism fordelivering broadcast signals for use by the public within a firstgeographic area. Further, the receiver antenna 150, transceiver 155,gateway 160, exciter 165, transmitter 170, and transmitter antenna 175are also collocated at a geographic location that is different from thelocation of the elements mentioned above and may represent a broadcastsignal transmission mechanism for delivering broadcast signals for useby the public within a second or different geographic area.

Broadcast content distribution system 100 represents a configurationwhere another second broadcast signal transmission arrangement orfacility, including receiver antenna 150, transceiver 155, gateway 160,exciter 165, transmitter 170 and transmitter antenna 175, is connectedinto a broadcasting network capable of accessing the broadcast signaltransmitted by antenna 125 as part of a first transmission arrangementor facility. Such a configuration is known as a heterogeneousre-transmission system. Although not shown, other communication mediamay be included as part of the broadcast network connecting the variousarrangements and/or facilities including, but not limited to, amicrowave communications link, a high-speed fiber communications link, alower speed copper wire communications link, and cellular or wi-ficommunications link.

In the FIG. 1, the transmitter 120 is configured as the main or originaltransmission source of a broadcast signal, but in some embodiments, itmay not be the main or original transmission source. Most broadcastsignals rely on a set of standards in order to maintain compatibilitybetween the signal transmission and the signal receivers used forreceiving the signal transmission. Most standards further implement thecommunication structures within various elements and signals based onprotocol layers, starting at the physical RFlayer, referred to as thePHY layer, and moving through to the application layer.

Media content (e.g., audio and video signals) as well as data content isreceived by studio content processing system 105. The studio contentprocessing system 105 may include one or more devices for processingmedia content for delivery and/or transmission through broadcast contentdistribution system 100. The studio content processing system mayinclude, but is not limited to, encoders, packagers, signal converters,and the like. The media content may be provided from one or more mediacontent sources including, but not limited to, content productionstudios, content distribution companies, broadcast content providers,and the like. Media content may also be provided from alternativecontent sources such as websites, content subscription service companiesand interactive applications providers. Data content may also beprovided by one or more of the above-mentioned content sources as wellas from specific data content sources such as media content listing orcontent guide services companies. The media content and/or the datacontent may be provided as raw digital data that is unencoded andunencrypted, particularly with respect to any broadcast standardprotocols. The studio content processing system 105 processes the mediaand data content from the various content sources to produce one or morecontent streams. The content streams may be encoded and/or compressedusing one or more media content encoding or compression protocolsincluding but not limited to, the motion picture experts group (MPEG)standard MPEG-4, MPEG-4 advanced video coding (AVC), and MPEG-H Part-2.These content streams may further be formatted into internal protocolpackets based on any one of several possible network friendly protocols.For example, the streams may be formatted as Real-time TransportProtocol (RTP)/User Datagram Protocol (UDP)/internet protocol (IP)multicast streams as part of data source layer processing. In someembodiments using ATSC 3.0 transmission standards, the streams may beformatted as Real-time Object Delivery over Unidirectional Transport(ROUTE) or Motion Picture Experts Group MPEG Media Transport (MMT)packets. Some of these multicast streams allow the IP packets destinedfor broadcast signal receivers to be tunneled through any IP networkwithout need to provide special routing or other consideration for thereceiver IP address space. Tunneling is a networking mechanism thatallows data in any format across diverse networks. In some embodiments,the streams are further formatted using a DSTP as described in the ATSCstandard A/324.

The one or more content streams from studio content processing system105 are provided to broadcast gateway 110. Broadcast gateway 110processes the one or more content streams and formats the signals into abroadcast signal transport stream. The processing in broadcast gateway110 includes encapsulating and formatting the IP packets in the one ormore content streams into link layer packets as part of a baseband datapacket stream based on a specific transport protocol. In someembodiments, broadcast gateway 110 encapsulates the one or more contentstreams by adding a data link layer based on the ATSC Link LayerProtocol (ALP) described in ATSC Standard A/330 that carries the IPpackets provided by studio content processing system 105 over the ATSC3.0 broadcast standard physical layer. The encapsulation may furtherprovide the mapping of some or all of the IP packets extracted from thecontent streams into sub-streams within the broadcast streams, oftenreferred to as physical layer pipes (PLPs).

The processing in broadcast gateway 110 also includes packet managementor scheduling in order to convert the broadcast signal transport streaminto a stream containing baseband data packets suitable for processingby the exciter 115. The broadcast gateway 110 also generates a networkconfiguration and control stream as well as a preamble stream as part ofthe scheduling operation. In some embodiments, the network configurationand control stream may be referred to as a timing and management controldata stream. The broadcast signal transport stream, including thenetwork configuration and control stream and preamble data stream, areused by exciter 115 to create the broadcast emission signal waveform. Insome embodiments, one or more packets of the broadcast signal transportstream may be tunneled using a protocol such as the STLTP as describedin ATSC standard A/324 as part of an ATSC broadcast. Further, in someembodiments, the tunneled packets may include a security mechanism, suchas a packet or stream signature, allowing exciter 115 to determine ifthe packet or stream has been tampered with. Information associated withpacket or stream security associated with the present disclosure will bedescribed in further detail below.

Exciter 115 receives the broadcast signal transport stream, along withthe network configuration and control stream and preamble data stream,from the broadcast gateway and provides additional link layer signalprocessing to the streams to form the broadcast emission signal based onthe network configuration and control stream and preamble data stream.The link layer signal processing may include one or more forms of dataerror correction encoding, temporal interleaving encoding, and datasignal modulation. The data error correction encoding may include, butis not limited to, Reed-Solomon encoding, Viterbi encoding, Bahl, Cocke,Jelinek, and Raviv (BCJR) encoding, and low-density parity check (LDPC)encoding. The data signal modulation may include but is not limited tovestigial sideband (VSB) modulation, multi-level quadrature amplitudemodulation (QAM), and multi-level orthogonal frequency modulation(OFDM). The resulting broadcast signal is converted from a digitalformat signal to an analog format baseband or low frequency signal andfurther upconverted to a frequency for transmission as analogtransmission signal. In some embodiments the frequency for transmissionmay be in the very high frequency (VHF) range from 54 megahertz (MHz) to88MHz and 174 MHz to 216 MHz or in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) rangefrom 470 MHz to 868 MHz The exciter 115 may also apply analog signaltransmission precorrection to account for known or anticipated signaldistortion caused by signal amplification in transmitter 120.

It is important to note that the link layer signal processing, datasignal modulation, and signal up-conversion used by exciter 115 mayconform to one or more of several broadcast signal physical layerbroadcast standards. Such broadcast standards include, but are notlimited to, ATSC 3.0, the digital video broadcasting (DVB) standardDVB-T2, and the integrated services broadcasting (ISDB) standard ISDB-T.

Transmitter 120 receives the analog transmission signal from exciter 115and amplifies the signal from its received signal level of around onemilliwatt (mW) to a level between one kilowatt (kW) and ten kW.Transmitter 120 may perform the amplification in stages and may includesignal filtering between the stages as well as at the output in order toremove signal distortion artifacts and other undesired signal energyoutside of the desired frequency range for the transmitted signal. It isworth noting that the type and amount of amplification and filteringthat is used in transmitter 120 may affect the type and necessity foranalog signal transmission precorrection that may be applied by exciter115. The amplified RF transmission signal is provided to transmitterantenna 125 for emission as an over the air broadcast signal. Thetransmitter antenna 125 may include one or more antenna elements thatare arranged and/or configured to provide the necessary or desiredradiated emission pattern in order to provide the proper geographiccover area for the RF transmission signal. As illustrated, transmitterantenna 125 is incorporated as part of a communication tower that may be50 or more feet tall. In some embodiments, transmitter antenna 125 maybe incorporated as part of other structures including, but not limitedto, a residential or commercial dwelling, a utility pole, a bridge, andthe like.

Receiver antenna 150 receives the over the air broadcast signal fromtransmit antenna 125. The receiver antenna 150 may be composed of one ormore antenna elements and may be arranged to be a high gain narrowbandwidth directional antenna for receiving the specific frequency range(e.g., VHF or UHF) used for the over the air broadcast signal. In someembodiments, receiver antenna 150 may include multiple antennas toreceive multiple broadcast signals from different locationssimultaneously. The receiver antenna 150 may be incorporated as part ofa communication tower that may be 50 or more feet tall. In someembodiments, transmitter antenna 125 may be incorporated as part ofother structures including, but not limited to, a residential orcommercial dwelling, a utility pole, a bridge, and the like. Thereceiver antenna 150 may be located and/or oriented to mitigateunnecessary interference from any transmitter antennas (e.g., transmitantenna 175) that may be collocated or located nearby.

The over the air broadcast signal received by receiver antenna 150 isprovided to transceiver 155. Transceiver 155 tunes, demodulates,decodes, and formats the received signal into one or more portions ofthe signal or sub-streams according to one more or physical layerbroadcast signal protocols, such as those described above. Thetransceiver 155 may further separate out the portions or sub-streams ofthe received broadcast signal and convert some or all of the portions orsub-streams into IP packets arranged as one or more content streams in amanner similar to that described above for studio content processingsystem 105. Gateway 160 processes the one or more baseband contentstreams and formats the streams into one or more broadcast signaltransport streams for use by exciter 165. The processing in gateway 160includes encapsulating and formatting the IP packets contained in theone or more content streams into link layer packets as part of thebaseband streams used as part of the re-broadcast of the received signalbased on a specific transport protocol as described above for broadcastgateway 110.

Exciter 165 receives the broadcast signal transport stream(s) containingthe one or more content streams from the gateway 160 and providesadditional link layer signal processing to the streams to form abroadcast emission signal and, finally, an analog transmission signal,for re-broadcast as described above for exciter 115. The one or morebaseband streams are similar to the content streams received frombroadcast gateway 110, as described above may include, among otherelements, a network configuration and control stream and a preamble datastream. Transmitter 170 receives the analog transmission signal fromexciter 165 and amplifies the signal in a manner similar to thatdescribed above for transmitter 120. The amplified RF transmissionsignal is provided to antenna 175 for emission over the air as describedabove for antenna 125. It is worth noting that the frequency that isused for the analog transmission signal in exciter 165 may be the sameas, or different from, the frequency used for the analog transmissionsignal from exciter 115 depending on the signal transmission formatand/or protocol used.

In operation, the studio content processing system 105, broadcastgateway 110, exciter 115, transmitter 120, and antenna 125 represent abroadcast signal transmission arrangement or facility for deliveringbroadcast signals for use and consumption of media and/or data contentby signal receivers operated by users within a geographic area. Thenetwork configuration and control stream and preamble data streamreceived from the broadcast gateway 110 contains the data that theexciter 115 uses to construct the final RF transmission signalcontaining the content stream(s) from the studio content processingsystem 105. In this manner, the network configuration and controlinformation is distributed to the exciter 115 within the transport linklayer. The transmitted signal from transmitter antenna 125 is receivedat receiver antenna 150. The received signal, containing audio and videocontent along with data content, is tuned and demodulated in transceiver155. Transceiver 155 also selects out a first portion of the datacontent and a second portion of the data content from the received firstbroadcast signal, the first portion containing the network control andconfiguration information and the second portion containing replacementcontent. The first and second portions are converted back into basebandpacket streams, as internet protocol streams, in gateway 160. Gateway160 processes the replacement content to form a new broadcast signaltransport stream using the network configuration and controlinformation. The new broadcast signal transport stream is provided toexciter 165 to transmit as a new or different broadcast signal. Theexciter 165 receives the new broadcast signal transport stream andproduces a broadcast emission signal similar to the signal at the outputof exciter 115. For operation that involves re-broadcasting the originalsignal as transmitted by antenna 125, the transceiver 155, gateway 160,and exciter 165 may be configured to process the received signal withoutmodification. In some embodiments, the exciter 165 may be configured toupconvert the broadcast emission signal provided to transmitter 170 to afrequency that is different from the frequency used by exciter 115.

As described above, the transmitter 170, through transmitter antenna175, may deliver a broadcast signal, referred to as the re-transmittedbroadcast signal. The re-transmitted broadcast signal may include all ofthe broadcast signal transmitted by transmitter 120 through transmitterantenna 125, for use by the public within a second or differentgeographic area than the geographic area covered by the originalbroadcast signal. However, the configuration of broadcast contentdistribution system 100 is also capable of providing a re-transmittedbroadcast signal that is different from the original broadcast signalreceived by antenna 150. In order to create a different re-transmittedbroadcast signal, one or more broadcast signal transport streamsprovided by broadcast gateway 110 may be configured to contain networkconfiguration and control information associated with operating exciter165 as part of signal re-broadcast or re-transmission throughtransmitter antenna 175. In such an arrangement, the networkconfiguration and control information used by exciter 165 to generate adifferent broadcast emission signal for re-broadcasting may be generatedand distributed at the data source layer through broadcast gateway 110and included in the original broadcast signal.

Additionally, in order to provide the network configuration and controlinformation to exciter 165 for generating a broadcast signal that isdifferent from the originally broadcast signal, network configurationand control information for configuring transceiver 155 is included inone or more of the content streams produced by studio content processingsystem 105. The transceiver network configuration and controlinformation may, for instance, be included as part of a low-level signallayer as part of a data source layer protocol. In some embodiments, thetransceiver network configuration and control information may beincluded in dedicated content streams so that the content streams may beterminated (e.g., as IP packets) at transceiver 155 and not provided togateway 160. The transceiver network configuration and controlinformation is used by transceiver 155 to configure one or more contentstreams delivered to gateway 160 to include gateway networkconfiguration and control information for operation of gateway 160. Thegateway network configuration and control information may be included aspart of one or more content streams that are configured for tunneling,such as the DSTP streams described above. The gateway networkconfiguration and control information is used by gateway 160 toconfigure one or more content streams delivered to exciter 165 toinclude specific network configuration and control information foroperation as part of generating the new broadcast emission signal. Thegateway network configuration and control information is also used bygateway 160 to determine which of the one or more content streamscontaining media or data content provided through studio contentprocessing system 105 will be provided to exciter 165 for inclusion inthe new broadcast signal for transmission.

In some embodiments, the content streams containing the transceivernetwork configuration and control information, the gateway networkconfiguration and control information, and the timing and managementconfiguration used by exciter 165 may be put into the same PLP in orderto further simplify the reception and extraction processing intransceiver 155. Further, this dedicated PLP may be carried as aseparate portion of the broadcast, using techniques such a LayerDivision Multiplexing (LDM), to allow distinction from the typicalbroadcast content. The content streams containing media or data contentprovided through studio content processing system 105 may be placed inone or more other PLPs.

In some embodiments, more than one transmission arrangement or facilitymay be employed for re-broadcast of the broadcast signal transmitted bytransmitter 120 through antenna 125. As such, additional content streamsmay be created in studio content processing system 105 and broadcastgateway 110 that include network configuration and control informationthat is addressed to the transceivers, gateways, and exciters at thoseadditional locations or facilities using the mechanism described above.

It is worth noting that many broadcast signal transmission protocols,such as ATSC 3.0, include a security mechanism, (e.g., a signature orsecurity key) that prohibits modification of content streams in thebroadcast signal, such as adding metadata to describe the new broadcastsignal that will be broadcast by transmitter 170 through transmitterantenna 175. By utilizing additional content streams with informationtargeted for use in the elements of a re-broadcast facility as describedabove, the security mechanism in the protocol remains unaffected.

As described above, broadcast signal transmission protocols, such asATSC 3.0, often require a security mechanism in order to preventundesired attacks on the media or data content as well as the broadcastsignal itself. One of the most common security mechanisms involves theuse of a combination of private and public keys to “sign” the content atone or more points in the transmission portion of the distributionsystem. In broadcast content distribution system 100, the studio contentprocessing system 105 and broadcast gateway 110 include private keys forsigning outgoing packets in their respective output data streams.Gateway 160 along with exciter 115 and exciter 165 also contain privatekeys to be used to validate security updates provided the studio contentprocessing device. The security update information is also encryptedwith public keys provided by gateway 160 as well as exciter 115 andexciter 165. Additionally, public keys associated with one or moreprivate keys are present in any element in broadcast contentdistribution system 100 that needs to validate a signed packet orstream, such as broadcast gateway 110 exciter 115, transceiver 155, andgateway 160. It is worth noting that gateway 160 does not containprivate keys for signing its outgoing packets since gateway 160 andexciter 165, along with transceiver 155, are likely collocated in arelatively insecure location.

Packet signing is performed using a private key at the broadcast gateway110, while the transmission of new public keys in the security streamportion of the broadcast signal transport stream (e.g., STLTP stream) isalso performed by the broadcast gateway using the public keys ofexciters 115 and 165. Exciters 115 and 165 validate the received keysusing its local private key. In other words, the broadcast gateway 110signs the packets using its private key and exciters 115 and 165 use thepublic key from broadcast gateway 110 to validate the signature.Further, the public keys from broadcast gateway 110 are encrypted usinga public key from each exciter 115 and 165 respectively to allow thepublic keys from broadcast gateway 110 to be sent securely to additionalexciters. The exciters 115 and 165 use their private key to unencryptthe public key from broadcast gateway 110 for use in checking thepackets at the transport link layer (e.g., STLTP).

The transceiver 155 validates the signed content and data within thereceived broadcast signal as if it were a typical broadcast signalreceiver. This validation operation includes verifying that thelow-level and service-level signaling content has not been compromisedand can be sent for further processing. A separate security stream thatis part of the transceiver management control information would also beused to validate some or all the other content packets. The separatevalidation further precludes security attacks where the signaling wasleft intact but some content was replaced.

As described above, gateway 160 validates the incoming secure contentstreams (e.g., DSTP streams) from transceiver 155, but does not includeprivate keys to sign the resulting broadcast signal transport stream(e.g., STLTP stream) provided to exciter 165. Note there is still aprivate key needed to validate the security information, but this isused in the same way as described above for validating security updates.Further, gateway 160 will receive separate gateway network configurationand control information as part of one or more content streams, asdescribed above, to support the associated new arrangement of thebroadcast signal transport stream associated with the re-broadcastsignal. In scenarios that include multiple re-broadcast locations and/orfacilities as part of a broadcast content distribution system, thebroadcast gateway 110 may be configured to provide different gatewaynetwork configuration and control information in content streams,representing unique content re-broadcast signals, for each gateway atthe different re-broadcast location and/or facilities. The mechanism toprovide separate network configuration and control information allowssignaling and applications to be signed in one secure location and thendistributed throughout the network without modification. The fundamentalrequirement is that the signaling data destined for individualtransmitters must be different but immutable.

In order to better facilitate the various aspects of the presentdisclosure, the following additions and/or modifications to one or moreof the protocols that may be used, particularly with respect to the ATSC3.0 broadcast standard, are described below. It is worth noting that oneor more of these additions and/or modifications may also apply toprotocols that are included part of other broadcast transmissionstandards including, but not limited to, those described aboveincluding, for example, ATSC 3.0 Link Layer Protocol Transport Protocol(ALPTP).

The Data Source Transport Protocol was initially developed as atunneling protocol limited to use in a transmission broadcast studio(e.g., studio content processing system 105 as described in FIG. 1). Thesecurity and control mechanisms originally described in ATSC standardA/324 only apply to the STLTP since it was expected to be used tocommunicate with physically separate transmitter sites, sometimes usingphysically uncontrolled communication mechanisms such as a microwavecommunication link. In addition, the STLTP was designed as a simplex,one-way protocol with command and control being passed through theprotocol without the need for return acknowledgement or othercommunication.

By applying the changes as described below to various aspects in theA/324 standard, a DSTP can be enabled to be routed throughout a broadernetwork with potentially limited control and one-way communication.

First, the security mechanisms defined in A/324 could readily be appliedto any of the common tunneling protocols (CTPs) described in thatstandard, including DSTP. The security system relies on two security keymechanisms, providing an encrypted signature for any or all tunneledpackets, and signaling new rotating signatures through a separatesecurity stream.

For STLTP, when any tunneled packet is signed, the signature, referredto as the Galois message authentication code (GMAC) tag in the standard,is placed in an RTP header extension. This is convenient because alltunneled packets within the STLTP are RTP-based so adding a headerextension can be done when any packet is created by a broadcast gateway(e.g., broadcast gateway 110). To sign these packets, however, a privatekey is required to encrypt the signature. The security stream itself isan RTP stream which can be signed as any other tunneled packet streamwithin the STLTP.

To accommodate applying the security mechanisms to the CTP and, thereby,to DSTP, the signature must be placed in the information header for thetunneled packet instead of in the tunneled packet itself. Theinformation header is used to communicate information about the tunneledpacket to a gateway (e.g., gateway 160) without the need for the Gatewayto examine the packet itself. An example of a format that may be used asan information header for a DSTP tunneled packet listed in Table 1. Theadded fields with respect to the A/324 standard are shown in italictext.

TABLE 1 No. of Syntax Bits Format information_header( ) { dest_address32 uimbsf port_number 16 uimbsf length 16 uimbsf group 16 uimbsf type 8uimbsf random_access_point 1 bslbf time_limit_flag 1 bslbf if ( type >=‘1’ && type <= ‘5’ ) { wakeup_control( ) 2 A/324 Section 7.2.2 } else {reserved 2 ‘00’ } signed_flag 1 bslbf reserved 3 ‘000’ if(time_limit_flag == ‘1’ ) { timestamp( ) 32 A/324 Table 6.3 } if (signed_flag == ‘1’ ) { reserved 12 ‘000000000000’ key_num 4 uimbsfGMAC_tag 128 uimbsf } }

-   -   signed_flag shall indicate that the tunneled packet and its        associated information header are signed. The key_num and        GMAC_tag fields are included in the information header if        signed_flag is ‘1’.    -   key_num shall indicate the index number of the GCM key used in        authentication of the packet. It shall have a value in the range        from 0×0 through 0×4. A value of 0×0 shall indicate that no        authentication processing is applied. Values from 0×1 through        0×4 shall indicate that authentication processing is applied        using the key having the index number given. Values 0×5 through        0×7 shall be reserved. GMAC_tag shall be the 128-bit galois        meessage authentication code (GMAC) tag calculated for the        packet using a combination of the key value indicated by the        key_num field, the Initialization Value determined as described        in A/324 Section 9.4.1, and the galois hash (GHASH) function        applied to the structural elements including the Tunneled Packet        Information Header with the GMAC_tag field set to zeroes plus        the tunneled packet.

For the tunneling packets, such as with the CTP, the security streamneed not change and can be defined as in A/324 Section 9.4.5 SecurityData Stream Protocol. Note that a similar technique would also berequired to extend ALPTP to support security since it also employsTunneled Packet Information Headers. Such techniques will not bedescribed in further detail here as the techniques are known to thoseskilled in the art.

Second, there is a management stream emitted from the broadcast gateway(e.g., broadcast gateway 110) to control certain operations in exciters(e.g., exciter 115). This is required for situations where the exciterhas no return path for communication or management from a broadcaststudio device (e.g., studio content processing system 105). The timingand management protocol provides a means for a broadcast gateway to sendconfiguration and timing information to the exciter.

To allow a gateway device, such as gateway 160, to be managed on thereceiving side of a one-way broadcast, a similar management and timingprotocol must be developed to allow the gateway device to be configured.One of the configuration elements that must be provided is a mappingfrom the Tunneled UDP/IP packets within the DSTP tunnel to the ALPstreams constructed by the ALP encapsulator function within the gatewaydevice. This mapping is described in detail in A/324 Section 7.1.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary transceiver 200 usedin a broadcast content distribution system according to aspects of thepresent disclosure. Transceiver 200 provides over the air broadcastsignal reception capabilities as part of a broadcast signal distributionsystem, including a broadcast repeater system similar to that describedin FIG. 1. Transceiver 200 may operate in a manner similar totransceiver 155 described in FIG. 1. In transceiver 200, content isreceived from a receiving antenna (e.g., receiver antenna 150 in FIG. 1)and provided to tuner/demodulator 210. The tuner/demodulator 210 iscoupled to broadcast stream decoder 220. Broadcast stream decoder 220 iscoupled to data processor 230. Data processor 230 is coupled to IPstream encoder 240. IP stream encoder 240 is coupled to local networkinterface 250, which provides an external communication interface toadditional components in the broadcast signal distribution system (e.g.,gateway 160 in FIG. 1). User interface 270 is included for interfacingwith a user as part of controlling or monitoring the transceiver 200.Controller 260 is coupled to tuner/demodulator 210, broadcast streamdecoder 220, data processor 230, IP stream encoder 240, local networkinterface 250, user interface 270, and memory 280. It is worth notingthat some elements or components that may be necessary for properoperation of transceiver 200 are not shown or described here for thesake of conciseness as they are well known to those skilled in the art.

Tuner/demodulator 210 tunes and demodulates the broadcast signalreceived from a receiving antenna (e.g., receiver antenna 150 in FIG.1). The broadcast signal will have signal energy within a specificregion or band of frequencies, typically between six and ten MHz inbandwidth, within the VHF and UHF range. The broadcast signal istypically provided over a coaxial cable from the receiving antennathrough one or more suitable RF connectors, such as F-type connectors,mounted on the transceiver 200. The tuner/demodulator 210 can becontrolled to perform its processing based on a specific broadcastsignal transmission protocol to produce a baseband data packetstream(e.g., ATSC 3.0 ALP stream) using control signals from controller 260.The tuner/demodulator 210 further extracts baseband data packets basedon which physical layer pipes (PLPs) that can be demodulated as part ofthe tuning and demodulation functions. The tuning and demodulatingfunctions used in tuner/demodulator 210 may be included as part of oneor more components, such as integrated circuits or multi-chip modules.The components or elements used may include, but are not limited to,filters, amplifiers, frequency downconverters, analog to digital signalconverters, multi-phase multi-amplitude demodulators, error correctiondecoders, and the like. In some cases, one or more of the elements maybe implemented as part of firmware or software in a digital signalprocessor.

The baseband transport packet stream(s), referred to as sub-streams,from tuner/demodulator 210 are provided to broadcast stream decoder 220.The sub-streams are provided to data processor 230. Data processor 230further separates out groups of data packets from the sub-streams. Dataprocessor 230 may separate packets that are intended for operation andcontrol of a collocated or coupled processing device, such as aprocessing device (e.g., gateway 160 and/or exciter 165 in FIG. 1), frompackets containing data that will be directly transmitted withoutfurther processing, as part of a broadcast signal retransmission. Dataprocessor 230 may also reformat any of the data as needed for furtherprocessing in other components. For example, the data received at dataprocessor 230 may be from a data source requiring content stream (e.g.,DSTP) encapsulation. The data may further already be in a contentstream, baseband data packet stream, or broadcast signal transportstream (e.g., ALPTP or STLTP) format and may be processed and routed asnecessary.

Local network interface 250 includes circuitry to perform local networksignal processing functions for transmitting and receiving signals aspart of communication with another device in the broadcast signaldistribution system (e.g., gateway 160 in FIG. 1). The signal processingfunctions in local network interface 250 may include protocolconfiguration used for operation on local networks, such as Ethernet orwireless networks. Local network interface 250 also includes aninterface connector suitable for the type of communication medium usedwith the local network. The interface connector may include, but is notlimited to, an F-type coaxial connector, a straight tip (ST) typeoptical connector, a registered jack (RJ) type RJ-11 or RJ-45 connector,a mechanical transfer registered jack (MT-RJ) type connector, and thelike. Local network interface 250 may also include one or more antennasthat may be configured for use with wireless operation in the localnetwork.

Memory 280 supports storage of programming instructions and dataassociated with the control and operation of the transceiver 200 throughcontroller 260 as well as the other elements of the transceiver 200.Memory 280 may include one or more of the following storage elementsincluding, but not limited to, RAM, ROM, Electrically ErasableProgrammable ROM (EEPROM), and flash memory. Memory 280 may alsoencompass one or more integrated memory elements including, but notlimited to, magnetic media hard disk drives and optical media diskdrives.

User interface 270 may include a user input or entry mechanism, such asa set of buttons, a keyboard, or a microphone. User interface 380 mayalso include circuitry for converting user input signals into a datacommunication format to provide to controller 260. User interface 270may further include some form of user notification mechanism to showdevice functionality or status, such as indicator lights, a speaker, ora display. User interface 270 may also include circuitry for convertingdata received from controller 260 into signals that may be used tooperate the user notification mechanism.

Controller 260 receives status information as well as information aboutthe data in the received broadcast signal from the various elements,processes the information, and provides control information back to thevarious elements within transceiver 200. Controller 260 may also receivecontrol instructions for specific operation and processing to beperformed in transceiver 200 from external devices in the broadcastsignal distribution system (e.g., gateway 160 in FIG. 1). Controller 260processes the instructions and provides the necessary controlinformation to the various elements in transceiver 200 to perform thespecific operation and processing.

It is worth noting that one or both of data processor 230 and controller260 may be using a programmable microprocessor that is reconfigurablewith downloadable instructions or software code stored in memory 280.One or both of data processor 230 and controller 260 may alternativelybe a specifically programmed controller and data processor with internalcontrol code for controlling, managing, and processing all functions anddata in transceiver 200. Further, one or more of the elements describedin transceiver 200 may be combined into a larger component and may beimplemented as a programmable microprocessor or as a specificallyprogrammed processing circuit.

In operation, a broadcast signal containing media content as well asdata content is received at tuner/demodulator 210 from a receivingantenna (e.g., receiver antenna 150 in FIG. 1). The broadcast signalincludes a first portion of data content and a second portion of datacontent. The first portion and second portion may be in one or more PLPsand contain network configuration and control information and additionalor replacement content that will be transmitted as part of a second,different broadcast signal. The tuner/demodulator 210 further selectsthe first portion of data content and the second portion of data contentfrom the received broadcast signal. All of, or portions of, the receivedbroadcast signal is converted into data packets in broadcast streamencoder 220 and data processor 230 and encoded as one or more multicastIP streams in IP stream encoder 240. More specifically, the firstportion and the second portion of the data content is converted into oneor more data packets included in one or more multicast IP streams thatare configured to include configuration and control information andspecific content information for retransmission. In some embodiments,the one or more multicast IP streams may be configured as tunneled IPstreams based on a data layer protocol such as DSTP. Further, the IPstreams (e.g., DSTP streams) may include a security mechanism as part ofa header packet used in the DSTP stream. The IP streams are provided toa further device, such as gateway 160 described in FIG. 1, for furtherprocessing to generate and transmit a second, different broadcastsignal.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary signal diagram 300 associated with thesignal processing performed as part of a broadcast signal contentdistribution system according to aspects of the present disclosure.Signal diagram 300 specifically illustrates various aspects of signalprocessing and management performed within a transceiver, such astransceiver 200 described in FIG. 2 or transceiver 155 described inFIG. 1. Signal diagram 300 illustrates the elements associated with anover the air broadcast signal and how the elements are processed,repackaged, and provided to other devices, such as a gateway, in thebroadcast signal content distribution system. It is worth noting thatsome or all of the aspects of signal diagram 300 may equally apply tooperation of other transceivers that may perform similar operations andprocessing as transceiver 200 as to operations in differentconfigurations of broadcast content distribution systems. Further,signal diagram 300 will primarily be described with respect to theprotocols associated with the ATSC 3.0 broadcast signal standard.Additionally, some or all of the aspects of signal diagram 300 may beapplicable to other broadcast signal standards including, but notlimited to, those mentioned above.

In signal diagram 300, the received broadcast signal is demodulated anddecoded (e.g., in tuner/demodulator 210 and broadcast stream decoder 220and separated into 3 PLPs 305 a, 305 b, and 305 c in data processor 230.PLP 305 a includes data packets containing transceiver configurationinformation stream 310, information control stream 315, and tunneledDSTP stream 320 and 325. PLP 305 a also contains an LLS stream 330 thatcontains only control information for transceiver 200 which in turnreferences information control stream 315. The transceiver configurationstream 310 contains all the necessary data structure that is needed tomanage specific functionality of transceiver 200 (e.g., throughcontroller 260). The information control stream 315 is used tocommunicate control information about the various other streams in thebroadcast to allow the transceiver 200 to reconstruct a first DSTPpacket tunnel 335 to provide the tunneled DSTP stream 320 and a secondDSTP packet tunnel to provide tunneled DSTP stream 325 to a gatewaydevice (e.g., gateway 160 in FIG. 1). The information control stream 315also includes the original security signatures of the packets as part ofsource content processing originally delivered to a broadcast gateway(e.g., broadcast gateway 110).

It is worth noting that a received broadcast signal must be constructedor configured such that the transceiver (e.g., transceiver 200) canreceive the information necessary to permit the generation of a newbroadcast signal that remains ATSC 3.0 compliant as part ofre-transmission or re-broadcasting (e.g., by transmitter 170 throughtransmitter antenna 175) This includes making sure that the PLPcontaining transceiver configuration information stream 310 and theinformation control stream 315 is configured such that it can always bereceived by the transceiver regardless of conditions.

PLP 305 b contains an LLS stream 345 and a content stream in the form ofan MMTP stream 350. PLP 305 c contains an LLS stream 355, and contentstreams in the form of a ROUTE stream 360, a ROUTE stream 365, and aROUTE stream 370. Note that the LLS stream 345 from PLP 305 b and LLSstream 355 from PLP 305 c are terminated in transceiver 200 and notprovided on to the gateway device. LLS stream 345 and LLS stream 355contain information about the broadcast signal that was received. LLSstream 345 and LLS stream 355 will not contain accurate informationabout the broadcast signal to be emitted as a new broadcast signal in are-transmission type broadcast signal content distribution system asdescribed in FIG. 1. The service list tables (SLTs) that are to beincluded in the new broadcast signal are contained in LLS streamscarried within the tunneled DSTP stream 320 and tunneled DSTP stream325, respectively. It is worth noting that the LLS streams must becontained in separate tunneled DSTP streams because, based on the ATSC3.0 standard, the two LLS packet streams have the same designated IPaddress and port, 224.0.23.60:4497, and all tunneled packet streamswithin a DSTP must have unique addresses and port numbers. In otherembodiments, the LLS streams or similar functional packets may beincluded in the same DSTP or similar functional content stream. Theremaining content streams, MMTP stream 350 from PLP 305 b and ROUTEstreams 360, 365, and 370, are aggregated and provided through DSTPpacket tunnel 375.

It is worth noting that to verify that the content of the broadcaststream received by transceiver 200 has not been tampered with, theinformation headers for the original DSTP streams carrying the MMTP andROUTE streams 350, 360, 365 and 370, respectively, within PLPs 305 b and305 c, may be separated from the packets in the stream prior to theoriginal broadcast and sent as part of the information control stream315. The originating gateway device (e.g., broadcast gateway 110 inFIG. 1) may append a timestamp (e.g., a 32-bit timestamp) that indicateswhen the packet was emitted in the broadcast (e.g., by transmitter 120through transmitter antenna 125). This timestamp may be based on theinternational atomic time (TAI) in the emission so that transceiver 200may determine which information headers line up with which packets. Theother information in the information headers, such as the destinationaddress, port, and length may be used to determine the exact packetassociated with the information header. In this way, information headersmay be “reattached” to packets to construct DSTP Packet Tunnel 375. Asimilar technique may be applied for other tunneled DSTP streams.Further, while reconstructing the information headers to tunneled DSTPstreams containing unsigned content, transceiver 200 may verify thatpackets match the signature contained in the information headersprovided separately. Using this technique, the information headersprovided in the original DSTP stream to a broadcast gateway (e.g.,broadcast gateways 110 and 710), including the signing information, maybe reconstituted into the DSTP Packet Tunnel 375.

Tunneled DSTP stream 320 also contains configuration information for agateway device (e.g., gateway 160 in FIG. 1). The configurationinformation is used by the gateway device to properly construct the newbroadcast signal transport stream for use in generating the newbroadcast signal for transmission. It is expected that the gatewaydevice has been configured at installation time to accept configurationfrom a specific DSTP stream based on the multicast address and portnumber (e.g., for tunneled DSTP stream 320). Further, if more than onere-transmission configuration is included in the broadcast contentdistribution system, each gateway device would be initially configuredto respond to a unique DSTP address and port number, and thecorresponding configuration information included in the DSTP stream.

Tunneled DSTP stream 320 and tunneled DSTP stream 325 from PLP 305 a areprovided through DSTP packet tunnel 335 and 340 respectively fordelivery to the gateway device (e.g., gateway 160 in FIG. 1). It isworth noting that tunneled DSTP stream 320 and tunneled DSTP stream 325remain unaltered as they are provided through DSTP packet tunnel 335 and340 to the gateway device.

While signal diagram 300 describes the presence of three PLPs, more orfewer PLPs may be present while still maintaining the various aspects ofthe present disclosure. Further, signal diagram 300 describes PLP 305 aas containing all of the transceiver and gateway configuration andcontrol information data. Including all of the transceiver and gatewayrelated data in its own dedicated PLP or PLPs may be advantageous. Forinstance, the PLP 305 a would not need to be tuned by normal consumerATSC 3.0 receivers because it would not contain any service-related dataand would only be used as a command-and-control pipe for the broadcastcontent distribution system itself. In other embodiments, where noadvantage is realized, the transceiver and gateway configuration andcontrol information may be included in several different PLPs and not ina dedicated PLP.

Further, one or more of PLPs may be present in the received broadcastsignal that may not require all of the additional processing describedin signal diagram 300. For example, one or more PLPs may contain contentstreams that represent only media content or data content that does notpertain specifically to the operation of the transceiver, gateway, orexciter. In these instances, the PLPs may be processed only to accessand structure the content into DSTP streams.

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary gateway 400 used in abroadcast content distribution system according to aspects of thepresent disclosure. Gateway 400 provides data routing and formattingcapabilities as part of a broadcast signal distribution system,including a broadcast repeater system similar to that described inFIG. 1. Gateway 400 may operate in a manner similar to gateway 160described in FIG. 1 and may further share some similar operationalcapability with broadcast gateway 110. It is worth noting that gateway400, which may be referred to as an edge gateway device, is functionallydifferent in several aspects with respect to gateway 110. For example,it is not common or, in many cases, practical, to use broadcast gateway110, and similar broadcast gateways, as an edge gateway device forinternet type communication due to the fact that a broadcasttransmission channel does not have available bandwidth for a returncommunication path across the broadcast network. Further, gateway 400,and similar edge gateways, typically provide routing functionality thatrequire only support for validating a limited key signing securitysystem while broadcast gateway 110, and similar broadcast gateways, areconfigured to support a private key signing security system, such as isused in many broadcast content transmission protocols, a function nottypically employed as part of an edge gateway. Gateway 400, and similaredge gateways, also can be controlled using a management stream that isincluded as part of the data provided in the streaming content allowingunattended operation.

In gateway 400, one or more content streams are received from aprocessing device connected as part of a local network, such as atransceiver (e.g., transceiver 155 in FIG. 1), at local networkinterface 410. Local network interface 410 is coupled to both dataprocessor 420 and controller 430. Both data processor 420 and controller430 are coupled to memory 440. Controller 430 is coupled to both dataprocessor 420 and user interface 450. Signals and data from dataprocessor 420 and controller 430 are provided to local network interface410 for transmission to another processing device connected as part of alocal network, such as an exciter (e.g., exciter 165 in FIG. 1). It isworth noting that some elements or components that may be necessary forproper operation of transceiver 200 are not shown or described here forthe sake of conciseness as they are well known to those skilled in theart.

Local network interface 410 includes circuitry to perform local networksignal processing functions for transmitting and receiving signals aspart of communication with another device in the broadcast signaldistribution system (e.g., transceiver 155 or exciter 165 in FIG. 1).The signal processing functions in local network interface 410 mayinclude those used for local networks as described above for localnetwork interface 250 in FIG. 2. Local network interface 410 alsoincludes an interface connector suitable for the type of communicationmedium used with the local network as described above for local networkinterface 250.

Processor 420 receives data from, and provides data to, the localnetwork interface based on the type of communication between gateway 400and other devices in the network. Processor 420 may analyze the data itreceives and/or processes, aggregate the received data where possible,and route the processed data to its final destination, either directlyor indirectly. Controller 430 receives status information aboutoperation of gateway 400 as well as information about the data that isprovided to, and delivered from, processor 420. Controller 430 may alsoreceive control instructions for specific operation and processing orrequests for status to be performed in gateway 400 from external devicesin the network (e.g., transceiver 155 in FIG. 1). Controller 430processes the instructions or requests and provides the necessarycontrol information to processor 420 to perform the specific operationand processing of data.

It is worth noting that one or both of data processor 420 and controller430 may be embodied as a programmable microprocessor that isreconfigurable with downloadable instructions or software code stored inmemory 280. One or both of data processor 430 and controller 430 mayalternatively be a specifically programmed controller and data processorwith internal control code for controlling, managing, and processing allfunctions and data in gateway 400. Further, data processor 420 andcontroller 430 may be combined to form a single processing element andfurther embodied as described here.

Memory 440 supports storage of programming instructions and dataassociated with the control and operation of the gateway 400 throughdata processor 420 and controller 430. Memory 440 may include one ormore of the following storage elements including, but not limited to,RAM, ROM, EEPROM, and flash memory. User interface 450 may include someform of user notification mechanism to show device functionality orstatus, such as indicator lights, a speaker, or a display. Userinterface 450 may also include circuitry for converting data receivedfrom controller 430 into signals that may be used to operate the usernotification mechanism. User interface 450 may also include one or morebuttons for performing specific user operations such as device reset,device configuration clear, and/or device access set-up.

In operation, gateway 400 receives one or more content streams (e.g.,DSTP streams) from a transceiver (e.g., transceiver 155 in FIG. 1). Theone or more content streams include network configuration and controlinformation for configuring gateway 400, which is provided to controller430, either from local network interface 410 or data processor 420. Oncethe gateway 400 is configured using the network configuration andcontrol information provided to controller 430, the data processor 420processes the remaining content in the one or more content streams togenerate a broadcast signal transport stream. In some embodiments, thedata processor 420 may terminate one or more content streams so as tonot include those content streams as part of the broadcast signaltransport stream. The data processor 420 may further extract onlycertain content from the one or more content streams for inclusion inthe broadcast signal transport streams while allowing passing othercontent without change and/or while excluding other content. Theinclusion or exclusion of content is performed based on the managementcontrol information provided to controller 430.

The data processor 420 also includes encapsulating and formatting the IPpackets in the one or more processed content streams into link layerpackets as part of a broadcast stream based on a specific transportprotocol, as described above. Further data processor 420 includes packetmanagement or scheduling functions in order to convert the broadcastsignal transport stream into a stream containing baseband data packetssuitable for processing by an exciter (e.g., exciter 115 in FIG. 1). Theencapsulation and packet management performed by data processor 420 mayinclude mapping the packets in the processed content streams to packetsincluded in the broadcast signal transport stream. The packet managementor scheduling information used to generate a timing and managementcontrol stream as well as a preamble stream, as described above.

FIG. 5 illustrates another exemplary signal diagram 500 associated withthe signal processing performed as part of a broadcast signal contentdistribution system according to aspects of the present disclosure.Signal diagram 500 specifically illustrates various aspects of signalprocessing and management performed within a gateway or edge gatewaydevice, such as gateway 400 described in FIG. 4 or gateway 160 describedin FIG. 1. Signal diagram 500 illustrates the elements associated withan over the air broadcast signal and how the elements are processed,repackaged, and provided to other devices, such as an exciter, in thebroadcast signal content distribution system. It is worth noting thatsome or all of the aspects of signal diagram 500 may equally apply tooperation of other gateway devices that may perform similar operationsand processing as gateway 200 as to operations in differentconfigurations of broadcast content distribution systems. Further,signal diagram 500 will primarily be described with respect to theprotocols associated with the ATSC 3.0 broadcast signal standard. It isworth noting some or all of the aspects of signal diagram 500 may beapplicable to other broadcast signal standards including, but notlimited to, those mentioned above.

In signal diagram 500, a set of CTP, content and control streams 505,510 a, 510 b, 515, and 520 are provided to local network interface 410in gateway 400 from a device that has previously processed the CTPstreams (e.g., gateway 200 in FIG. 2). Stream 505 includes configurationinformation for gateway 400 and may be a tunneled DSTP stream arrangedin a manner similar to tunneled DSTP stream 320 and passed through DSTPpacket tunnel 335 in FIG. 3. Stream 505 may also be identified as anon-real time (NRT) stream or NRT ROUTE stream. The configurationinformation is provided to configuration processing 525 as part ofcontroller 430. It is noted that more than one gateway may be present ina network so configuration data stream 505 may additionally include anaddressing scheme to identify gateway 400 as the correct gateway. Thatconfiguration information includes mapping information regarding whichof the streams to either ignore or pass on for encapsulation. Theconfiguration information also defines the parameters for scheduling aswell as the information necessary to construct the control functions inthe STLTP stream for use by the exciter (e.g., exciter 165 in FIG. 1).

Following processing of the configuration information, data processor420 begins identifying, routing, and processing of the remaining streamsbased on instructions from controller 430. CTP streams 510 a and 510 bare identified as streams that are routed directly to link layerencapsulation 540 with no additional processing. Streams 510 a and 510 bmay or may not be tunneled DSTP streams and may carry media content thatwas originally transmitted for public use that is also to be included inthe rebroadcast signal transmission. One or more of the streams may bemulticast UDP/IP packet streams configured with DSTP. One of streams 510a and 510 b may further include configuration information for a devicefurther in the signal processing chain, such as exciter 165 is FIG. 1.Stream 515 is identified as a stream that will not be included in there-broadcast signal and is terminated in gateway 400.

Stream 520 is identified as a stream containing media or data contentspecifically for inclusion in the re-broadcast signal. Stream 520 is atunneled DSTP stream and may contain MMTP and/or ROUTE streams (e.g.,MMTP stream 350 and/or ROUTE streams 360, 365, 370 passed through DSTPpacket tunnel 375 in FIG. 3). Stream 520 is provided to common tunnelingprotocol extraction 530 as part of data processor 420. Followingextraction, two processed content streams 535 a and 535 b are providedto link layer encapsulation 540. The content streams 535 a and 535 b maybe referred to as the local content or regionalized content streams asthese streams are only transmitted for use by the public or transmittedto other re-broadcasting facilities as part of the re-broadcast signalconstructed by gateway 400 and its associated transmission elements. Insome cases, these streams would replace ignored streams, such as stream515. Additionally, ALP packet stream 560 is provided directly toscheduling 550, bypassing link layer encapsulation 540. ALP packetstream 560 may be used to replace one of the PLPs in the originalbroadcast transmission.

It is worth noting that streams 535 a and 535 b represent two differentpossible tunneled streams that are processed through common tunnelingprotocol extraction 530. Other streams, such as ALP packet stream 560,which may be passed through to the appropriate processing element, donot require processing through common tunneling protocol extraction 530.Although not shown, it is also possible to pass an STLTP stream throughthe system as a stream destined for an exciter. In such a case, theSTLTP stream is provided directly to an exciter (e.g., exciter 165 inFIG. 1) bypassing both link layer encapsulation and scheduling 550. Anycombination of tunneled streams may be processed in a manner similar tothat described here.

Further, depending on the security protocols used, any CTP streamsreceived by gateway 400 may be completely signed (i.e., all packetssigned), partially signed (i.e., some packets signed), or not signed(i.e., no packets signed).

Link layer encapsulation 540 of streams 510 a, 510 b and processed DSTPstreams 535 a, 535 b in data processor 420 may also include any mappinginto PLPs as described above produces ALPPLP streams 545 a, 545 b, and545 c. These streams, along with ALP packet stream 560, are provided toscheduling 550 also included in processor 420 to produce an STLTPstream. The link layer encapsulation 540 and scheduling 550 areperformed in data processor 420 based on instructions from controller420.

As described above, if gateway 400 is signing the other packet streamsusing its local private key, it will generate a security packet streamusing the public key of the exciter. The security packet stream willinclude rotating keys that allow an exciter device (e.g., exciter 165 inFIG. 1) to validate the signing of the other packet streams. Thesecurity design described by A/324 allows any or all the packets withinthe STLTP streams to be signed. If signed, each packet will contain anRTP header extension with an encrypted signature for the packet.

It is worth noting that although transceiver 200 and gateway 400 andtheir operations are described as separate devices or components, insome embodiments, one or more elements and/or functions included ineither transceiver 200 or gateway 400 may be included as part of theother device or component. In some embodiments, it may be possible tocombine all the elements and functions into one device, referred to as agateway receiver device.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of another exemplary broadcastcontent distribution system 600 according to aspects of the presentdisclosure. Broadcast content distribution system 600 operates in amanner similar to the re-transmission configuration of broadcast contentdistribution system 100 described in FIG. 1. However, broadcast contentdistribution system 600 further includes the ability to operate in afull duplex communication mode between the two broadcast signaltransmission arrangements or facilities that are geographicallyseparated but within transmission and reception range of each other.Broadcast content distribution system 600 includes a first communicationfacility 605 a and a second communication facility 605 b that are atgeographically separate locations. Each of communication facility 605 a,b includes a receiver antenna 630 a, b for receiving the transmittedbroadcast signal from the other communication facility 605 b, a. Eachreceiver antenna 630 a, b is coupled to a transceiver 635 a, brespectively. Each transceiver 635 a, b is coupled to a local network640 a, b respectively. Each local network 640 a, b is coupled to agateway 610 a, b respectively. Each gateway 610 a, b is coupled to anexciter 615 a, b respectively. Each exciter 615 a, b is coupled totransmitter 620 a, b respectively. Each transmitter 620 a, b is coupledto a transmitter antenna 625 a, b respectively. Each transmitter antenna615 a, b transmits a broadcast signal from its respective communicationfacility 605 a, b to users in its geographic area such that thebroadcast signal may also be received by the receiver antenna at theother communication facility 605 b, a.

It is worth noting that, except as described below, the function andoperation of receiver antenna 630 a and 630 b, transceiver 635 a and 635b, gateway 610 a and 610 b, exciter 615 a and 615 b, transmitter 620 aand 620 b, and transmitter antenna 625 a and 625 b are similar to thefunction and operation of receiver antenna 150, transceiver 155, gateway160, exciter 165, transmitter 170, and transmitter antenna 175 describedin FIG. 1. Further, the addition of local network 640 a and 640 bpermits communication between each of the communication facilities 605 aand 605 b and other equipment located within each of the communicationfacilities including, but not limited to, a content processing device(e.g., studio content processing system 105 described in FIG. 1).Further, gateways 610 a and 610 b may be embodied as either an edgegateway device, such as gateway 155, or a broadcast gateway device, suchas broadcast gateway 110, depending on the type of operations (e.g.,original transmission, re-transmission) that may be carried out at thecommunication facilities 605 a and 605 b.

In operation, each communication facility 605 a and 605 b may transmittheir respective broadcast signals at different frequencies such thatthe frequency range of their respective transmission signals do notoverlap. The two broadcast signals, one transmitted at a first frequencyand the other transmitted at a second frequency, essentially connect thetwo Local Networks 640 a and 640 b. Packets destined for equipment inlocal network 640 b may be sent through from local network 640 a using abroadcast signal at the first frequency transmitted from communicationfacility 605 a and received through communication facility 605 b. Anypackets that were sent in response to the packets originally sent may besent through from local network 640 b using a broadcast signal at thesecond frequency transmitted from communication facility 605 b, receivedthrough communication facility 605 a, and provided to local network 640a. One possible implementation to manage the two-way data communicationmay be to configure a separate subnet address for each of the localnetworks 640 a and 640 b. As a result, gateway 610 a would identify androute packets addressed to the subnet address of Local Network 640 b andvice versa. Each transceiver 635 a and 635 b, following the broadcastsignal to IP signal conversion, forwards the appropriate packets to itsrespective local network 640 a and 640 b where the packets will beprocessed by the addressed equipment. It is worth noting that in someembodiments, based on a particular broadcast signal protocol, it may bepossible for each communication facility 605 a and 605 b to transmittheir broadcast signals using the same frequency and still operate in amanner as described here.

In some embodiments, the transmission of the two broadcast signals bycommunication facility 605 a and communication facility 605 b could beconfigured asymmetrically. For example, if communication facilityincluded limited equipment, such as lower power transmitter 620 a, suchthat it may only be capable of sending a limited amount of data, exciter615 a could be configured to operate using a narrower bandwidthtransmission signal than the transmitted broadcast signal provided byfacility 605 b.

It is worth noting that, in some cases, the transmission and receptioncapability of communication facilities 605 a and 605 b form afull-duplex link. As a result, it may be possible to supporttransmission and reception of internet connection-based (TCP) protocolsincluding Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and File Transfer Protocol(FTP) through local networks 640 a and 640 b. Even if communicationfacilities 605 a and 605 b are also connected via fiber, copper, orother wireless wide area network (WAN) infrastructure, the duplexbroadcast network formed by communication facilities 605 a and 605 b mayprovide an alternative or backup communication mechanism.

All gateway devices, whether configured as broadcast gateways, such asbroadcast gateway 110 in FIG. 1, edge gateways, such as gateways 110 aand 110 b, are essentially IP routers. That is, they take or receive IPpackets intended for ATSC 3.0 receivers (typically, multicast packets)via a data layer protocol, such as DSTP, add a data link layer (e.g.,ALP), and send them on to the exciter as a baseband data transportstream, such as STLTP. A signal broadcast receiver reverses this processuntil it recovers a stream of IP packets which it then uses to accessthe various content being broadcast.

Many broadcast standards do not place constraints on the formulation orarrangement of IP packets except to maybe define an identificationmechanism. For instance, in the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard,identification mechanism includes defining the initial low-levelsignaling (LLS) multicast address and port. Therefore, it is possible toallow any type or number of IP packets to be passed through a broadcastgateway, such as broadcast gateway 110. However, having many disparateIP packets with separate addressing within the same PLP alongside actualATSC 3.0 transport multicast packets may cause performance issues forconsumer-grade broadcast receivers. Instead, the gateway device may beconfigured to place some or all of the general-purpose IP packets on oneor more PLPs that are separate from the other broadcast signaling andcontent. The general-purpose IP packets, in their own PLP(s) may bebroadcast along with other broadcast signaling and content.

However, since broadcast signal transmission is sometimes unreliable, itmay be useful to provide error correction at the IP layer as well as atthe PHY layer. Further due to the nature of broadcast signaltransmission and receipt, there is also the possibility ofman-in-the-middle security attacks so including an option to addsecurity at the IP layer may also prove beneficial.

In some embodiments using ATSC 3.0 as the broadcast signal transmissionstandard, the general-purpose tunneling protocol (GPTP) may be used toextend the CTP defined in A/324 to provide a means to tunnel any type ofIP packet for easy transmission and configuration using a gatewaydevice, such as gateway 610 a or 610 b. Since gateway devices aregenerally configured to accept real-time transport protocol (RTP)multicast streams, a GPTP tunneling module may be included in a device,such as transceiver 635 a and 635 b prior to inputting the streams tothe gateway device. The CTP forward error correction (FEC) functionalitycould be configured to support as much robustness as necessary inaddition to the robustness configured for the PHY layer PLP.

Further, the CTP security additions described above could also beenabled for signing some or all the GPTP tunneled packets. The tunnelingmay additionally require a public/private key mechanism at thecommunication facility (e.g., communication facilities 605 a and 605 b).GPTP is designed to support the functionality though it is optional andmay not be used. However, since the key pairs could be dedicated to thisapplication, they could be separate from any other Public KeyInfrastructure (PKI) deployed and used as part of the original broadcasttransmission for public use.

To accommodate applying the security mechanisms to the GPTP, thesignature must be placed in an information header for the tunneledpacket as has been described in A/324 for DSTP and ALPTP. Theinformation header defined for GPTP may include the tunneled packetlength and a flag indicating whether a signature is included or not. Thepacket length is included so that the GPTP tunneling function need notunderstand the underlying packet structure. If the signature flag isset, two additional fields are included to contain the signature and thekey number used to generate it. An exemplary format of an informationheader for a GPTP tunneled packet is shown below in table 2.

TABLE 2 No. of Syntax Bits Format information_header( ) { length 16uimbsf signed_flag 1 bslbf reserved 11 ‘00000000000’ if ( signed_flag ==‘1’ ) { key_num 4 uimbsf GMAC_tag 128 uimbsf } else { reserved 4 ‘0000’} }

-   -   length shall indicate the length of the tunneled packet in bytes        starting immediately after the last byte GPTP Tunneled Packet        Header; signed_flag shall indicate that the tunneled packet and        its associated information header are signed. The key_num and        GMAC_tag fields are included in the information header if        signed_flag is ‘1’;    -   key_num shall indicate the index number of the GCM key used in        authentication of the packet. It shall have a value in the range        from 0×0 through 0×4. A value of 0×0 shall indicate that no        authentication processing is applied. Values from 0×1 through        0×4 shall indicate that authentication processing is applied        using the key having the index number given. Values 0×5 through        0×7 shall be reserved; and GMAC_tag shall be the 128-bit GMAC        tag calculated for the packet using a combination of the key        value indicated by the key_num field, the initialization value        determined as described A/324 Section 9.4.1, and the GHASH        function applied to the structural elements including the        Tunneled Packet Information Header with the GMAC_tag field set        to zeroes plus the tunneled packet.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of a further exemplary broadcastcontent distribution system 700 according to aspects of the presentdisclosure. Broadcast content distribution system 700 represents analternative configuration of a re-transmission system. The transmitter720 is configured as the main or original transmission source of abroadcast signal. However, instead of relying on receiving thetransmitted broadcast signal to generate the new broadcast signal forre-transmission, broadcast content distribution system 700 uses a widearea IP network or WAN to provide the content streams from studiocontent processing system 705 to a gateway device 760. Gateway device760 operates in a manner similar to gateway device 160 described in FIG.1 or in a manner similar to gateway device 400 described in FIG. 4.

In broadcast content distribution system 700, content from one or morecontent sources is provided to studio content processing system 705.Studio content processing system 705 is coupled to broadcast gateway710. Broadcast gateway 710 is coupled to exciter 715. Exciter 715 iscoupled to transmitter 720. Transmitter 720 is coupled to thetransmitter antenna 725, which radiates the broadcast signal providedthrough transmitter 720 into the airwaves. Studio content system 705 isalso coupled through various network elements in IP network 750 togateway 760. Gateway 760 is coupled to exciter 765. Exciter 765 iscoupled to transmitter 770. Transmitter 770 is coupled to thetransmitter antenna 775, which radiates the broadcast signal providedthrough transmitter 770 into the airwaves. Nominally, the studio contentprocessing system 705, broadcast gateway 710, exciter 715, transmitter720, and antenna 725 are collocated (e.g., in the same building orfacility) and represent a broadcast signal transmission mechanism fordelivering broadcast signals for use by the public within a firstgeographic area. Further, gateway 760, exciter 765, transmitter 770, andtransmitter antenna 775 are also collocated at a geographic locationthat is different from the location of the elements mentioned above andmay represent a broadcast signal transmission mechanism for deliveringbroadcast signals for use by the public within a second or differentgeographic area. Except as described below, studio content processingsystem 705, broadcast gateway 710, exciter 715, transmitter 720,transmitter antenna 725, gateway 760, exciter 765, transmitter 770, andtransmitter antenna 775 operate and function in a manner similar tothose similarly numbered elements in FIG. 1 and will not be described infurther detail here.

As described above, studio content processing system 705 generatescontent streams representing media content and data content. One or moreof the content streams may include configuration data for a gatewayother than broadcast gateway 710, such as gateway 760, in order tofacilitate a re-transmission of a new broadcast signal that represents amodified version of the broadcast signal transmitted by transmitter 720through antenna 725. The one or more content streams generated by studiocontent processing system 705, including the content stream(s) thatinclude configuration data for gateway 760, are provided to gateway 760through IP network 750. The gateway 760 processes the one or morecontent streams to extract the necessary configuration data, in someform of gateway network configuration and control information asdescribed above, and constructs a broadcast signal transport stream(e.g., an STLTP stream). Depending on the configuration data, thebroadcast signal transport stream constructed by gateway 760 may bedifferent from the broadcast signal transport stream generated bybroadcast gateway 710, as has been described above.

In some embodiments, gateway 760 may further validate any secureincoming content streams from studio content processing system 705.However, as described above, gateway 760 does not contain private keysand would not sign the resulting broadcast signal transport streamprovided to exciter 765 thus precluding the need for a private key tosign the STLTP data. Note there is still a private key needed tovalidate the security information, but this is used in the same way asan Exciter processing an STLTP stream.

As described above, one or more of the present embodiments may be usedto address issues with localized delivery of emergency alerts inconjunction with an EAS, such as alerts for dangerous weather, missingpersons, or emergencies or disasters. The present embodiments may beused in addition, or in place of, the present EAS alert distributionmechanism by providing the ability to customize various data streams andlocalize the emergency information to the necessary transmissions. EASalert content typically requires a minimum of a text caption in thevideo and a corresponding audio description of the emergency event. Thisseparate video stream could be created, perhaps at a lower resolution orbandwidth, and targeted at the specific transmission site. In addition,the present embodiments may be more suited to handle more difficultsituations involving several different emergency events where each eventmay be targeted at overlapping geographic areas.

In one example, a failure may occur when the physical communicationnetwork connecting one or more of local EAS ENDECs with the broadcaststudio or facility fails. The present embodiments may be used to createa full duplex network over the broadcast content distribution system,similar to that described for broadcast content distribution system 600in FIG. 6, that is capable of bridging over the failed portion of thephysical communication network and restoring EAS operation to anyaffected areas. Details regarding different physical configurations of abroadcast content distribution system including a plurality of networkedbroadcast transmission facilities utilizing one or more aspects of thepresent embodiments will be described below.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of yet another exemplary broadcastcontent distribution system 800 according to aspects of the presentdisclosure. Broadcast content distribution system 800 represents aconfiguration of a multi-mode broadcast content distribution system. Thestudio content processing (e.g., studio content processing system 105 inFIG. 1) is performed in a studio content processing facility that islocated remote from a first broadcast transmission facility and a secondbroadcast transmission facility. The three facilities arecommunicatively linked together through at least two differentcommunication links. Further, broadcast transmission facility andbroadcast transmission facility may be linked to other transmissionfacilities through one or more communication links, including abroadcast transmission communication link. It is important to note thatbroadcast content distribution system 800 employs a number of differentcommunication links between the studio content processing facility aswell as the broadcast transmission facilities, along with using aspectsof the present embodiments, in order to provide a more robust andredundant environment that can provide uninterrupted operation. However,in other broadcast content distribution systems, more, or fewer, ordifferent communication links may be present.

In broadcast content distribution system 800, content from one or morecontent sources is processed in studio content processing facility 805and provided as broadcast content to broadcast transmission facility 830and broadcast transmission facility 850. The broadcast content may beprovided to both broadcast transmission facility 830 and broadcasttransmission facility 850 through wide area network 880. Alternatively,broadcast content may be provided using microwave transceiver 820,located at studio content processing facility 805, and microwavetransceiver 825, located at broadcast transmission facility 830.Further, broadcast content may alternatively be provided using microwavetransceiver 840, located at studio content processing facility 805, andmicrowave transceiver 845, located at broadcast transmission facility850. Broadcast communication facility 860, is also communicativelycoupled to studio content processing facility 805, broadcasttransmission facility 830, and broadcast transmission facility 850through wide area network 880. Broadcast communication facility 860 mayalso be communicatively coupled to broadcast communication facility 850through a broadcast communication link. Broadcast communication facility870 may be communicatively linked to either one or both of broadcastcommunication facility 830 and broadcast communication facility 860 onlythrough a broadcast communication link. Studio content processingfacility 805 also includes EAS ENDEC 810, which may be coupled into widearea network 880 as well as interfaced into the operation of studiocontent facility 805. Broadcast communication facility 830 also includesEAS ENDEC 835, which may be coupled into wide area network 880 as wellas interfaced into the operation of Broadcast communication facility830. Broadcast communication facility 850 also includes EAS ENDEC 855,which may be coupled into wide area network 880 as well as interfacedinto the operation of broadcast communication facility 850. Broadcastcommunication facility 860 also includes EAS ENDEC 865, which may becoupled into wide area network 880 as well as interfaced into theoperation of broadcast communication facility 860. Broadcastcommunication facility 870 also includes EAS ENDEC 875, which isinterfaced into the operation of broadcast communication facility 870but is not shown coupled into wide area network 880 and may instead bestand alone or interfaced into another wide area network.

It is important to note that studio content processing facility 805,broadcast communication facility 830, broadcast communication facility850, broadcast communication facility 860, and broadcast communicationfacility 870 are each at different geographic locations. Further, asshown, broadcast communication facility 830 and broadcast communicationfacility 850 are geographically separated by such a distance thatbroadcast communication between them is not feasible.

The studio content processing facility may include one or more studiocontent processing devices similar to studio content processing system105 described in FIG. 1 or studio content processing system 705described in FIG. 7. The one or more studio content processing systemsmay process the studio content in a manner as described above andprovide the content as one or more IP streams over the wide area network880. The studio content processing facility may also include one or morebroadcast gateways similar to broadcast gateway 110 in FIG. 1 orbroadcast gateway 710 in FIG. 7. The one or more broadcast gatewaysreceive content streams from the one or more studio content processingsystems and format the content streams into broadcast signal transportstreams for delivery over the microwave links through microwavetransceivers 820 and 840.

Each of broadcast communication facility 830, broadcast communicationfacility 850, broadcast communication facility 860, and broadcastcommunication facility 870 includes an exciter similar to exciter 115 inFIG.1, a transmitter similar to transmitter 120, and a transmitterantenna similar to transmitter antenna 125. Further, broadcastcommunication facility 830 and broadcast communication facility 850 alsoinclude a microwave transceiver 825 and microwave transceiver 845respectively. In some embodiments, one or more of the broadcastcommunication facilities may further include a receiver antenna similarto receiver antenna 150, a transceiver similar transceiver 155, and agateway device similar to gateway device 160. Additionally, in somecases, the broadcast communication facilities may configure the EASENDECs to regionalize the messages processed for emergency events basedon the geographic areas covered by the broadcast communicationfacilities. As a result, each EAS ENDEC shown in broadcast contentdistribution system 800 must have the ability to communicate with thestudio content processing facility 805 so that the studio contentprocessing facility 805 can produce and provide audio and video contentwith the regionalized emergency event information embedded.

In some embodiments, broadcast communication facility 850 and broadcastcommunication facility 860 may be communicatively coupled to the studiocontent processing facility 805 through wide area network 880 using ahigh-speed data connection, such as a one gigabit per second (Gb/s)fiber connection. Broadcast communication facility 850 also has a duplexmicrowave link, through microwave transceiver 845, to studio contentprocessing facility 805, through microwave transceiver 840, for backupcommunication purposes. The broadcast signal transmission frequency, aswell as the geographic coverage area, of broadcast communicationfacility 850 is different from broadcast communication facility 860.However, the broadcast signal transmitted by broadcast communicationfacility 850 is receivable using a receiver antenna at broadcastcommunication facility 860 and, similarly, the broadcast signaltransmitted by broadcast communication facility 860 is receivable usinga receiver antenna at broadcast communication facility 850. In addition,EAS ENDEC 855 is connected back to studio content processing facility805 using the same high speed data connection through wide area network850.

A broadcast gateway at studio content processing facility 805 generatesand provides a broadcast signal transport stream (e.g., STLTP) tobroadcast communication facility 850 either over the high-speed dataconnection through wide area network 880 or via the microwavecommunication link using microwave transceivers 840 and 845. Thebroadcast signal transport stream includes additional data specificallyfor transmission by broadcast communication facility 860. The broadcastsignal transport stream is processed and transmitted by broadcastcommunication facility 850. The processing includes providing thecontent specific for transmission by broadcast communication facility860, along with the necessary timing control and management data, in oneor more content streams (e.g., DSTPs) as described above. Thetransmitted signal is received by a receiver antenna and processed by atransceiver and gateway device at broadcast communication facility 860.

It is worth noting that since both broadcast communication facility 850and broadcast communication facility 860 are connected to studio contentprocessing facility 805 through wide area network 880 over a high speeddata connection it is possible to for studio content processing facility805 to generate and provide two broadcast signal transport streams forbroadcast communication facility 850 and broadcast communicationfacility 860, respectively, each with the same or nearly the samecontent but different signaling. However, providing the two basebandpacket streams would require nearly twice the data bandwidth. Further,in the event that communication over wide area network 880 isinterrupted, the broadcast signal transport stream, including thecontent specific for transmission by broadcast communication facility860, may still be provided to broadcast communication facility 850 usingthe microwave link as described above. If necessary, the gateway devicebroadcast communication facility 860 may be configured to detect theloss of traffic over the wide area network 880 and begin receiving andprocessing the transmission from broadcast communication facility 850.It may also be possible to synchronize the content received over thewide area network with the expected emission time of the broadcasttransmission content from broadcast communication facility 850 tomitigate or eliminate interruption of broadcast transmission contentfrom broadcast communication facility 860.

Any emergency events detected by EAS ENDEC 810 may be inserted into thesecondary video and audio service portion of the broadcast signaltransport stream at the studio content processing facility 805 to sendalong with associated signaling that includes the AEAT. The primaryaudio and video content stream without the EAS event informationcontinues to be produced and is signaled for transmission by broadcastcommunication facility 860. In this case, the transmission that can bereceived by the public viewers in the geographic area covered bybroadcast communication facility 850 will contain the EAS eventinformation and the rest of the network, including the transmission bybroadcast communication facility 860 will not. The same signalingconfiguration may be performed for any individual emergency event thatcovers a different geographic area throughout the network.

If EAS ENDEC 865 detects an emergency event, EAS ENDEC 865 sends theemergency event information to the studio content processing facility805 over the wide area network 880. If communication over the wide areanetwork has been interrupted, EAS ENDEC 865 may provide the emergencyevent information to the gateway device in broadcast communicationfacility 860. The gateway device may package the emergency eventinformation for transmission with signaling to be received and processedby broadcast communication facility 850 by utilizing full duplex IPcommunication mode similar to that described above in FIG. 6. Thebroadcast communication facility 850 may provide the received emergencyevent information to studio content processing facility 805 either overwide area network 880 or through the microwave communication link.Alternatively, a receiver antenna and transceiver, similar receiverantenna 150 and transceiver 155 described in FIG. 1, may be includedstudio content processing facility 805 if the facility is withinreception range of the broadcast from broadcast communication facility860. The studio content processing facility 805 processes the emergencyevent information for inclusion in the broadcast signal transport streamprovided to broadcast communication facility 850.

In some embodiments, broadcast communication facility 850 iscommunicatively coupled to the studio content processing facility 805through wide area network 880 using a high-speed data connection whilebroadcast communication facility 860 is communicatively coupled throughwide area network using a low speed data connection such as a 100kilobit per second (kb/s) Category 5 (CatV) copper connection. Further,EAS ENDEC 855 and EAS ENDEC 865 communicate with the studio via the highspeed and low speed data connections, respectively. Due to the inabilityto provide information between studio content processing facility 805and broadcast communication facility 860 via a high-speed dataconnection, content streams (e.g., DSTPs) are provided to both broadcastcommunication facility 850 and broadcast communication facility 860,each utilizing a gateway device similar to gateway device 160 describedin FIG. 1. Further, receiver antennas and transceivers, similar toreceiver antenna 150 and transceiver 155 described in FIG. 1, would alsobe included at both broadcast communication facility 850 and broadcastcommunication facility 860 allowing the facilities and associated EASENDECs 855 and 865 to communicate if communication over wide areanetwork 880 was interrupted. Since content streams are being provided tobroadcast communication facility 850 and broadcast communicationfacility 860, only a separate signaling content stream would be carriedfor each facility with the content stream specific to broadcastcommunication facility 860 being transmitted as part of thebroadcast-by-broadcast communication facility 850. The main audio andvideo content streams may be the same for both facilities.

At the onset of an emergency event, the particular EAS ENDEC 855 or EASENDEC 865 would communicate with the studio either through the physicalfiber/copper network or, if that was unavailable, through thecombination of the broadcast IP network and the microwave link betweenthe broadcast communication facility 850 and studio content processingfacility 805 as described above. Note that at least two differentmulticast content streams may be sent over the microwave link betweenbroadcast communication facility 850 and studio content processingfacility 805, one containing signaling for the broadcast signaltransmission by broadcast communication facility 850 and the othercontaining content and signaling for the broadcast signal transmissionby broadcast communication facility 860. An additional audio and videocontent stream may be created for the geographic area covered by eitherone or both of broadcast communication facility 850 and broadcastcommunication facility 860 if an emergency event occurs and is detectedat either EAS ENDEC 855 or EAS ENDEC 865.

In some embodiments, broadcast communication facility 830 may becommunicatively coupled to broadcast communication facility 870 as abroadcast transmission single frequency network (SFN). An SFN is abroadcast network where several transmitters simultaneously transmit thesame signal over the same frequency channel. Broadcast communicationfacility 830 is communicatively coupled to the studio content processingfacility 805 through wide area network 880 using a high-speed dataconnection. Broadcast communication facility 870 is controlled throughthe signal transmitted by broadcast communication facility 830 using themechanisms described above. A gateway device is included at broadcastcommunication facility 830 and receives the various content streams(e.g., DSTPs) from studio content processing facility 805 over the widearea network 880. The gateway device is used to create both thebroadcast signal transport stream (e.g., STLTP) to control the exciterat broadcast communication facility 830 and additionally create thebroadcast signal transport stream to control the exciter at broadcastcommunication facility 870. As described above, it is possible by usinga tunneling protocol, such as CTP, to transport any format data stream,including a baseband packet stream, or STLTP, as a content stream, orDSTP. Further, the latter broadcast signal transport stream may becontained in its own PLP that may be private or unpublished in order toisolate it from other data content destined for public viewing in thegeographic area covered by broadcast communication facility 830. Thelatter broadcast signal transport stream would be broadcast as part ofthe signal transmission from broadcast communication facility 830 andreceived by broadcast communication facility 870 through a receiverantenna and transceiver similar to receiver antenna 150 and transceiver155 described in FIG. 1. The extracted broadcast signal transport streamis processed in a gateway device at broadcast communication facility 870and provided to the exciter for transmission at the same frequency.

EAS ENDEC 835 at broadcast communication facility 830 may communicateany received emergency event information to the studio contentprocessing facility 805 either over the wide area network 880 or overthe microwave link formed by microwave transceivers 820 and 825. EASENDEC 875 may communicate any received emergency event information onlyto broadcast communication facility 830 by utilizing full duplex IPcommunication mode similar to that described above in FIG. 6. However,in some cases it might be less expensive to have a separate emergencybackup communication device (not shown) included at broadcastcommunication facility 870 allowing a regionalized emergency alertmessage to be transmitted with default video and audio by broadcastcommunication facility 870.

In some embodiments, broadcast communication facility 870 may not becommunicatively coupled to any other broadcast facilities except tobroadcast communication facility 860 utilizing a full duplex IPbroadcast communication mode similar to broadcast content distributionsystem 600 described in FIG. 6. The gateway device at broadcastcommunication facility 860 receives content streams from studio contentprocessing facility 805 either over wide area network 880 (e.g., using ahigh-speed data connection if available) or through reception of thebroadcast signal transmitted by broadcast communication facility 850.The signaling content streams needed for controlling broadcastcommunication facility 870 would be processed by the gateway device atbroadcast communication facility 860 and included in its broadcasttransmission. The transmitted signal is received at broadcastcommunication facility 870 and processed to extract the signalingcontent streams for producing and transmitting the broadcast signalbroadcast communication facility 870. It is important to note that insome cases, the content streams produced and provided by the studiocontent processing facility 805 may include signaling for controllingthe transmission of a broadcast signal by broadcast communicationfacility 850 containing content streams that include signaling forcontrolling the transmission of a broadcast signal by broadcastcommunication facility 860, further containing content streams thatinclude signaling for controlling the transmission of a broadcast signalby broadcast communication facility 870.

EAS ENDEC 875 may communicate any received emergency event informationonly to broadcast communication facility 860 using the full duplex modedescribed above. Broadcast communication facility 860 may communicatethe emergency event information received from broadcast communicationfacility 870 back to the studio content processing facility 805 eitherdirectly over the wide area network 880 or indirectly using full duplexIP broadcast communication mode with broadcast communication facility850. If alternate audio and video streams are required for transmissionby broadcast communication facility 870 (e.g., to show the EAS crawl andaudio description for the emergency event), the additional audio andvideo content that could be included in the content stream that includesthe signaling for broadcast communication facility 870 replacing theoriginal or main audio and video content.

The inclusion of a gateway device, such as gateway 760 in FIG. 7 orgateway 160 in FIG. 1, in a broadcast content distribution systemenables additional capabilities that are not available when informationis only delivered as a physical layer transport stream (e.g., an STLTPstream). One such capability is to provide information storage inconjunction with the gateway device that may accumulate video and audioalong with secure signaling and application data that can be used in theevent of an emergency where all communication networks fail. Such acapability may be referred to as an emergency backup service (EBS). Thestorage supporting the service resides at the transmitter site thatincludes the gateway device. Depending on the requirements, the storagemay be large enough to save a relatively long segment audio and videocontent as well as supporting signaling and application data. The storedcontent may be updated on a regular basis so that any signaturesassociated with the content would not expire. The EBS is configured toactivate when incoming communication over the network (e.g., throughtransmitter 120 in FIG. 1 or over IP network 750 in FIG. 7) isinterrupted. The EBS may be configured to retrieve the stored contentmemory. The stored content is processed and converted in the gatewaydevice to form one or more DSTP streams emulating the streams normallysent over the network and can be repeatedly provided from the gatewaydevice to the exciter (e.g., exciter 765) for broadcast transmission asa loop. The signaling associated with the stored content, including theMedia Presentation Description (MPD), would remain static but valid,having been signed at the origination point. The stored content isprocessed and converted in the gateway device to form one or more DSTPstreams emulating the streams normally sent over the network. Theconfiguration of the gateway device would remain constant.

In some embodiments, the video and audio content may provide informationto users regarding the loss of communication and where to tune to getmore information. If a user application were provided, the applicationmay be run on broadcast receivers supporting the interactive environmentand, if available, connect to the internet via a functional network toreport back to the broadcast source (e.g., studio content processingsystem 705 in FIG. 7 or studio content processing system 105 in FIG. 1)that the transmitter communication connection has been lost. It is worthnoting that in a serious emergency, many of the broadcast receivers in ageographic area covered by the broadcast transmission might not haveinternet access but only one is needed to report the transmittercommunication connection failure to the source broadcaster.

In another embodiment, if an ENDEC, such as ENDEC 875 in FIG. 8, werecollocated and/or communicating with the EBS, the ENDEC could provideEAS emergency event information for storage. It is important to notethat certain emergency event information provided by the ENDEC, such asthe advanced emergency alert table (AEAT), may not be able to beincluded in the EBS generated broadcast signal directly because it wouldnot be signed but could be provided as a separate private data streamwhich could then be provided to the application in the broadcastreceiver and displayed as audio and video information. A public keymechanism may alternatively be used to sign the AEAT for inclusion inthe EBS generated broadcast signal.

It is worth noting that the EBS may provide viable video and audiocontent in a continuous broadcast signal loop until the signinginformation on the signaling expires. Further, some broadcast receiversmay continue to play the video even though the signaling signingexpired. The EBS would typically not be capable of signing any of thesignaling due to the risk of having a resident private key in anunattended site. However, if such risk were acceptable, a completesignaling and application signing system may be included and deployed aspart of the EBS.

As an example of how such an emergency backup system would work andreferring again to FIG. 8, broadcast transmission facility 830 includesa signal transmitter with a 50-mile radius transmission footprint. Thebroadcast transmission facility 830 communicates with studio contentprocessing facility 805 located 10 miles away through a microwave signallink using microwave transceiver 820 and microwave transceiver 825.Further, broadcast transmission facility 830 includes a local electricalenergy generator (not shown) capable of operating the facility for 12hours. During normal operation, the microwave signal link providescontent, including DSTP streams, from the studio content processingfacility 805 to the broadcast transmission facility 830, which combinesthe DSTP streams into the STLTP stream using the gateway device atbroadcast transmission facility 830. In addition to the DSTP datastreams containing the content intended for immediate broadcast, one ormore of the DSTP streams also contains 5 minutes' worth of off-lineaudio and video content for each service in the broadcast signal alongwith the appropriate signaling for broadcast transmission during a timewhen the microwave connection is off-line (e.g., when an emergency eventhas occurred). The audio and video content may be constructed in such away to be continuously looped during broadcast transmission. Thesignaling would be essentially identical to the live signaling exceptfor signaling regarding the off-line application. In some embodimentsthe off-line application for the broadcast receivers described above mayalso be sent along with the off-line content.

The off-line content along with the associated application are storedlocally as part of the EBS, either in the gateway device or in someexternal server memory at broadcast transmission facility 830. Once allthe backup information is received, the EBS may be enabled to beginretrieving and providing the backup information as separate DSTP streamsfor processing in a gateway device as needed. It is worth noting thatthe EBS may constantly provide the backup DSTP streams to allow animmediate switchover if the gateway device detects a failure of theprimary network path (e.g., the microwave link).

At a certain point in time, a hurricane hits the geographic area coveredby broadcast transmission facility 930, causing a general power outagein the area and damaging the microwave transceiver 825. The localelectrical energy generator is started allowing the transmitter atbroadcast transmission facility 830 to continue operating. As a resultof losing microwave signal reception due to the damaged microwavetransceiver 825, the gateway device in broadcast transmission facility830 begins providing backup information as a stream for broadcasttransmission. Broadcast receivers with the 50-mile radius tuned to theservices in the transmission will start receiving audio and videoindicating that the broadcast is no longer live or some otherinformation regarding the communication failure to the transmitter. Inthis case, the hurricane would have been forecast so a content streampertinent to a hurricane emergency may have been uploaded to the EBSwell before the event, with information on evacuation and contactinformation. The application associated with the backup informationwould also run on any broadcast receivers in the area capable ofsupporting the interactive content. If a few of these broadcastreceivers still had access to the internet through some type of networkconnection, those broadcast receivers could report back to the studiocontent processing facility 805 that the application was running andthat the backup content protocol had been activated. The broadcasteroperating studio content processing facility 805 may then take steps torestore the microwave signal connection and power, if possible.

It is worth noting that the availability of a feature such as EBS may beimportant to some broadcasters and broadcast companies. As thosebroadcasters and broadcast companies move towards cloud infrastructure,with content and applications stored and accessed in the cloud, theability to include a service such as EBS as part of the transmissionfacilities may be valuable as a backup system or in situations whereinternet connectivity may be less robust than typical microwaveconnections.

FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary process 900 forproviding alternative broadcast content in a heterogeneous broadcastcontent distribution system according to aspects of the presentdisclosure. Process 900 will be primarily described with respect to thebroadcast content distribution system 100 described in FIG. 1. One ormore aspects of process 900 may also be performed by various elements inbroadcast content distribution system 600 described in FIG. 6, broadcastcontent distribution system 700 described in FIG. 7, or broadcastcontent distribution system 800 described in FIG. 8. Additionally, oneor more aspects of process 900 may be performed by a transceiver device,such as transceiver device 155 described in FIG. 1 or transceiver device200 described in FIG. 2, as part of a content distribution system.Further, one or more aspects of process 900 may be performed by agateway device, such as gateway device 160 described in FIG. 1, gatewaydevice 400 described in FIG. 4, or gateway device 700 described in FIG.7, as part of a broadcast content distribution system. Although process900 depicts steps performed in a particular order for purposes ofillustration and discussion, the operations discussed herein are notlimited to any particular order or arrangement. Further, while process900 is described in association with an over the air broadcast contentdistribution system, process 900 may easily be adapted for use in othercontent distribution systems, such as a cable or satellite signalcontent distribution system and the like. Process 900 may also be usedin conjunction with an EAS alert network system, such as described forbroadcast content distribution system 800 in FIG. 8. One skilled in theart, using the disclosure provided herein, will also appreciate that oneor more of the steps of process 900 may be omitted, rearranged,combined, and/or adapted in various ways.

At step 910, a broadcast signal is received at a broadcast signaltransmission facility. The broadcast signal transmission facility thatreceived the broadcast signal is at a different geographic location thanthe broadcast signal transmission facility that transmitted thebroadcast signal. The broadcast signal is received by a transceivercircuit or device through a receiving antenna, such as transceiver 155through receiver antenna 150. The broadcast signal contains mediacontent for use by the public in the specific geographic region aroundthe location of the broadcast transmission facility. In someembodiments, the media content may contain at least one of audio signalsand video signals and is received from at least one source, the at leastone source comprising at least one of a content distribution source, abroadcast content source and a content production studio.

The broadcast signal also contains data content. In some embodiments,the data content may be received from one of a media content listing anda content guide services listing. The broadcast signal may be compliantwith a broadcast signal transmission standard that is used in thegeographic region. In some embodiments, the broadcast signal is an ATSC3.0 standard compliant broadcast signal.

At step 920, a first portion of the data content and a second portion ofthe data content received, at step 910, are selected out of the receivedbroadcast signal. The selection, at step 920, is done as part of thetuning and demodulation function in a transceiver circuit or device,such as transceiver 155. The first portion of the data content containscontrol and configuration information for use by the broadcasttransmission facility and the second portion contains replacement mediacontent specific to the geographic area covered by the broadcasttransmission facility.

At step 930, the first portion of the data content and the secondportion of the data content, selected at step 920 are converted into amulticast IP stream. In some embodiments, the multicast IP stream may bea DSTP stream. The specific content information may be media or datacontent that is intended only for transmission as part of a broadcastsignal at the broadcast signal transmission facility that received thebroadcast signal. For example, the specific content information mayinclude localized emergency alert information or messages pertaining toa specific geographic region included as part of the geographic regioncovered by the broadcast transmission facility. Further, in someembodiments, the DSTP stream may include a security mechanism as part ofan information header for at least one packet in the data sourceprotocol stream. For example, the security mechanism may include apublic-private key to sign one or both of the media content and datafrom the broadcast signal received, at step 910.

At step 940, the configuration and control information from the IPstream, converted at step 930, is used to process the replacementcontent from the IP stream for inclusion as part of a new or secondbroadcast signal. The processing, at step 940, may be performed in agateway device, such as gateway 400 in FIG. 4. In some embodiments, thegateway device may be specifically configured as an edge gateway asdescribed above. The processing may include providing the configurationand control information from the IP stream to controller 430 and thereplacement content to the data processor 430 in gateway 400. Thecontroller 430 provides instructions, based on the configuration andcontrol information, to data processor 430 to process the replacement.In some embodiments, the processing may include mapping the internetprotocol stream packets associated with the replacement content tobroadcast signal transport protocol packets. The broadcast link packetsmay further be formed into a broadcast signal transport stream, such asan STLTP stream. In some embodiments, the configuration and controlinformation is used to process the localized emergency alert informationfor inclusion in the new or second broadcast signal.

At step 950, the processed replacement content is transmitted as part ofa new or second broadcast signal at the broadcast signal transmissionfacility that received the original or first broadcast signal, at step910. The new or second broadcast signal is transmitted across thegeographic region covered by the broadcast transmission facility using atransmitter device, such as transmitter 170 in FIG. 1, through atransmission antenna, such as transmitter antenna 175. The new or secondbroadcast signal may additionally include non-replacement content fromthe original or first broadcast signal, received at step 910. In someembodiments, the retransmission of the new broadcast signal, at step940, may occur on a frequency that is different from the frequency usedfor the received broadcast signal. In other embodiments, such as whenoperating as part of an SFN, the retransmission of the new broadcastsignal, at step 940, may occur on a frequency that is the same as thefrequency used for the received broadcast signal.

One or more of the steps of process 900 may be modified or even omitteddepending on a specific embodiment. For instance, step 950 may beomitted in cases where the second broadcast signal is not directlytransmitted as part of the implemented process. Such an event may occurwhen the broadcast transmission facility serves as redistributionfacility providing broadcast signals to other facilities over analternate communication medium, such as microwave link or a wiredcommunication network.

It is worth noting that although the above embodiments described abovefocus on physical hardware and elements located at facilities atspecific geographic locations, the principles of the present disclosuremay be easily extended to implementations that involve cloud-basedoperations for some of the processing and/or storage of content. Forexample, content streams, such as DSTP streams, and broadcast signaltransport streams, such as STLTP streams, may originate either in thecloud or locally and various gateways or exciters throughout thenetwork. The only limitations are bandwidth constraints for the networkand ensuring that the security requirements associated with thebroadcast standard can be maintained.

It is to be appreciated that, except where explicitly indicated in thedescription above, the various features shown and described can beconsidered cumulative and interchangeable, that is, a feature shown inone embodiment may be incorporated into another embodiment.

Although embodiments which incorporate the teachings of the presentdisclosure have been shown and described in detail herein, those skilledin the art can readily devise many other varied embodiments that stillincorporate these teachings. Having described preferred embodiments forsystems, apparatus, and methods for implementing secure televisiondistribution over heterogeneous networks, it is noted that modificationsand variations can be made by persons skilled in the art in light of theabove teachings. It is therefore to be understood that changes may bemade in the particular embodiments of the disclosure which are withinthe scope of the disclosure as outlined by the appended claims.

1) A method of providing a second broadcast signal from a firstbroadcast signal, comprising: receiving a first broadcast signalcontaining media content and data content; selecting a first portion ofthe data content and a second portion of the data content from thereceived first broadcast signal, the first portion containing controland configuration information and the second portion containingreplacement content; converting the first portion of the data contentand the second portion of the data content into a multicast internetprotocol stream; and processing the replacement content as a secondbroadcast signal using the control and configuration informationcontained in the first portion. 2) The method of claim 1, wherein themulticast internet protocol stream is a data source transport protocolstream. 3) The method of claim 1, wherein the media content contains atleast one of audio signals and video signals and is received from atleast one source, the at least one source comprising at least one of acontent distribution source, a broadcast content source and a contentproduction studio. 4) The method of claim 1, wherein the data content isreceived from one of a media content listing and a content guideservices listing. 5) The method of claim 2, wherein the data sourcetransport protocol stream includes a security mechanism as part of theheader, wherein the security mechanism comprises a public-private key tosign at least one of the media content and data content and the firstbroadcast signal. 6) The method of claim 1, further comprisingtransmitting the second broadcast signal on a frequency that isdifferent from the frequency of the first broadcast signal. 7) Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first broadcast signal is an AdvancedTelevision Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0-compliant broadcast signal. 8)The method of claim 1, wherein processing the replacement contentincludes mapping the multicast internet protocol stream packets tobroadcast signal transport packets. 9) A system comprising: atransceiver that receives a first broadcast signal containing mediacontent and data content, the transceiver further selecting a firstportion of the data content and a second portion of the data content,wherein the first portion contains control and configuration informationand the second portion contains replacement content, the transceiverfurther converting the first portion of the data content and the secondportion of the data content into a multicast internet protocol stream;and a gateway device coupled to the transceiver, the gateway deviceprocessing the replacement content as a second broadcast signal usingthe control and configuration information contained in the firstportion. 10) The system of claim 9, wherein the multicast internetprotocol stream is a data source transport protocol stream. 11) Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the data source transport protocol streamincludes a security mechanism as part of the header, wherein thesecurity mechanism comprises one of a public-private key to sign atleast one of the media content and data content and the first broadcastsignal. 12) The system of claim 9, further comprising a transmittercoupled to the gateway, the transmitter transmitting the secondbroadcast signal on a frequency that is different from the frequency ofthe first broadcast signal. 13) The system of claim 9, wherein the firstbroadcast signal is an Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC)3.0-compliant broadcast signal. 14) The system of claim 9, wherein thegateway further maps the multicast internet protocol stream packets tobroadcast signal transport packets. 15) The system of claim 9, whereinthe gateway is an edge gateway. 16) A method of providing localizedemergency alert information, comprising: receiving a first broadcastsignal containing media content and data content; selecting a firstportion of the data content and a second portion of the data contentfrom the received first broadcast signal, the first portion containingcontrol and configuration information and the second portion containinglocalized emergency alert information for a specific geographic region;converting the first portion of the data content and the second portionof the data content into a multicast internet protocol stream; andprocessing the localized emergency alert information as a secondbroadcast signal using the control and configuration informationcontained in the first portion. 17) The method of claim 16, wherein themulticast internet protocol stream is a data source transport protocolstream that includes a security mechanism as part of the header, whereinthe security mechanism comprises one of a public-private key to sign atleast one of the media content and data content and broadcast signal.18) The method of claim 16, further comprising transmitting the secondbroadcast signal across the specific geographic region on a frequencythat is different from the frequency of the first broadcast signal. 19)The method of claim 16, wherein the first broadcast signal is anAdvanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0-compliant broadcastsignal. 20) The method of claim 16, wherein processing the localizedemergency alert information includes mapping the multicast internetprotocol stream packets to broadcast signal transport packets.